European local and regional leaders met in Kyiv on 26 May to discuss Ukraine’s recovery and EU integration, a gathering held a day after one of the largest Russian attacks of the war.
The meeting was the IV International Summit of Cities and Regions, held under the motto “Partnership. Resilience. Preparedness,” according to a statement from the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) issued on Wednesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened the summit by awarding the honorary “Rescuer City” distinction to several cities, including Gdańsk, which is due to host the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) on 25 – 26 June 2026.
The “Rescuer City” title was established by Zelenskyy in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion and is awarded to cities that provided support to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, including humanitarian assistance and logistical support.
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, the mayor of Gdańsk and a representative of the European Committee of the Regions, told participants that “the success of this transformation rests entirely on trust — trust between central and local government, trust between the state and its citizens, and trust between Ukraine and its European partners.”
Focus on local services and cross-border cooperation
The summit brought together Ukrainian government representatives, members of parliament, ministers, mayors, regional leaders and international partners to discuss how cities and regions can contribute to recovery, strengthen life-support systems and improve energy resilience, the CoR said.
Discussions included essential services such as water, heating and transport, with participants saying local and regional authorities are best placed to identify vulnerabilities in these areas.
Patrick Molinoz, vice-president of the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and a member of the European Committee of the Regions, said Ukraine’s recovery and “path to Europe will also be built thanks to crossborder cooperation.”
Molinoz also pointed to the Carpathian area as a space for cooperation using EU instruments such as Interreg, a European programme that supports cross-border projects.
The summit ended with the signing of international territorial cooperation agreements and the adoption of a declaration on partnership, resilience and preparedness.
