He is visiting Ukraine, with his mission focused primarily on restoring energy infrastructure and preparing the country for its fifth winter of full-scale war.
‘No excuses’
The previous day, Mr. De Croo visited the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and went inside the protective structure over Reactor Four, which was destroyed in 1986. He saw firsthand the damage caused recently by the drone strike.
“Anyone who’s attacking those protective structures – and those protective structures around a nuclear structure – is really gambling with the safety of millions of people.
“A nuclear installation can never be a target. There can absolutely be no excuse. There can absolutely be no ambiguity. This has to stop,” the UNDP chief said.
According to Mr. De Croo, the origin of the drone must be formally established through an investigation. At the same time, military personnel guarding the site told him that Russian drones fly over the facility on a daily basis.
“Whether it was a deliberate attack or an accident, this is something which is unacceptable. Making sure that drones are not flying above that site is one way of avoiding that things like this could happen,” he said.
Solar power boost
During his visit to Chornobyl, the head of UNDP also took part in the opening of a new solar power plant. The project was implemented with support from Lithuania and Japan, in cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities and with technical expertise from the UN’s development agency. The plant will supply electricity to the cooling systems of Reactor Four.
Energy was one of the main focuses of Mr. De Croo’s visit. Over the past four years, UNDP has mobilised $1.3 billion to assist Ukrainians, with the restoration of the country’s energy system becoming its largest area of work.
Thanks to this support, 6.6 million people have access to electricity.
According to the UNDP chief, the aim is not merely to rebuild what existed before. Ukraine is gradually moving towards a more sustainable and decentralized energy system that is more difficult to disable with a single strike.
Electricity, he stressed, means far more than lighting people’s homes: schools, hospitals, water supplies and other essential services all depend on it.
However, approximately half of the country’s energy infrastructure has already been affected by Russian attacks, and the approaching winter is expected to make a bad situation worse.
“We try to do our best to help 6.6 million people. But it’s quite clear that at this moment, it is never enough,” Mr. De Croo acknowledged.
‘The frontline is everywhere’
While in Kyiv, the UNDP chief has been constantly hearing air raid sirens – sometimes at least once every two hours and throughout the night, he said.
During his visit, there were reports of attacks on a bus stop, a petrol station, a food-processing facility, and a business centre near the hotel from which he was speaking.
“It used to be that the frontline was in the East. Today, the frontline is everywhere,” he said.
Admiration for the resilience of Ukrainians, he added, should not obscure the price they are paying for living under such conditions.
“We always talk about resilience, but resilience really has its limits,” Mr. De Croo said.
Long-term support
Despite the dangers, UNDP does not intend to postpone reconstruction until the war is over. However, rebuilding the country on a full scale will take many years.
According to the latest estimate by the World Bank and UN organizations, the cost of repairing the damage caused by the war has already exceeded $600 billion.
“Restoring the infrastructure is not waiting for the end of the war. We have been restoring infrastructure from the start of this war, and despite the war, we will continue doing this,” the UNDP chief said.
