President held a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Ivano-Frankivsk Catholic Lyceum

According to the Head of State, the agenda of the meeting included three topics: energy sector and protection of Ukraine's energy infrastructure from Russian attacks; international politics, implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula and preparation for the Global Peace Summit, security guarantees for our country and the start of negotiations on accession to the European Union; budget expenditures at the state and local levels.

"It is obvious that in the autumn and winter the enemy will try to repeat the terror against the Ukrainian energy sector. In any case, we must be prepared for this at the state, highest level, at the level of each community, each city, each of our villages and towns," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Regarding the international agenda, the President said that Ukraine's success in international relations gives additional motivation to our soldiers at the front and to our people in general, because they see what the country will be like in the future. In this matter, much depends on the timely and appropriate work of the Verkhovna Rada.

"It will be right if the people's deputies of Ukraine feel that their communities expect very positive foreign policy successes of Ukraine from them. And it is important to do it now," the Head of State emphasized.

Regarding budget expenditures, Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the budget is always a mirror of the priorities of the state, region, and each community. And now the first priority throughout Ukraine is defense.

"Ukrainian warriors and all our people must feel that Ukrainian communities consider defense the first priority, as I have noted today. All of you see the priorities and needs of combat brigades and our other units in which soldiers from your communities, from every city and village of Ukraine serve," the Head of State said.

The second priority, according to the President, is the social sustainability of Ukraine, each city and community, and the protection of the normal life of every person.

The meeting was attended by 98 members of the Congress in person, and more than 1,500 participants online. In total, 93% of its members attended the meeting.

In addition, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other foreign guests joined the meeting online.