DREAM Will Show It All: How Ukraine’s Reconstruction Is Going, How Much It Costs—and Who Pays

That’s precisely why the DREAM platform—Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management—was created. It is a digital ecosystem that has become the main transparency tool in the country’s reconstruction. On this platform, anyone can see the recovery projects being implemented or planned with public funds.

What is DREAM, and who uses it?

DREAM is a national digital platform that serves as a “one-stop shop” for submitting, reviewing, and monitoring reconstruction projects in Ukraine. It enables the tracking of public investment projects at the national, regional, and local levels—from their initiation to completion. The system was developed by Ukraine’s Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, the DREAM Project Office, and international partners with support from the UK DIGIT project.

DREAM’s primary users are government bodies, local self-government authorities, and state and municipal enterprises. They can enter project data into the system and report on progress. The information in DREAM is open to everyone: international financial institutions and investors, business representatives, journalists, civic activists, and Ukrainian citizens. This allows citizens, donors, and all interested parties to monitor the course of reconstruction.

Let’s take a look at some of the data available in DREAM.

How reconstruction is progressing: the big picture and regional specifics

In the three years since the DREAM system was launched, 14,257 projects have been registered. Of these:

• 97 (0.68%) have been successfully completed.
• The majority—7,395 (51.87%)—are in progress.
• A significant share—5,376 (37.71%)—are at the initiation stage (meaning that the project information is in DREAM, but implementation has not yet begun).
• 136 (0.95%) ended unsuccessfully, and 1,253 (8.79%) were canceled. 

These categories can overlap: a project may be removed from DREAM because funding could not be secured, the initiator’s priorities changed, or simply because it was entered into the system by mistake.

The low share of completed projects should not be viewed negatively, as most reconstruction or modernization projects are long-term and therefore could not have been finished within two years. A reason for optimism is that more than half of the projects are being implemented despite ongoing shelling, labor shortages, and limited funding. It is also encouraging that communities and central government bodies have initiated many projects, meaning that recovery is continuing despite significant uncertainty.

Regional leaders in reconstruction

Frontline regions—or those that were partially occupied by Russia—lead in the number of projects. The areas with the most projects in the initiation and implementation phases are:

• Kyiv region (1,809)
• Kharkiv region (1,105)
• Dnipropetrovsk region (897)
• Chernihiv region (680)
• Mykolaiv region (693)

Chart 2 shows the distribution of projects by sector. The largest number of applications—more than half of all projects—are in sectors essential to daily life:

• Education (4,648 projects)
• Healthcare (1,870 projects)
• Water supply and sewerage (1,594 projects)
• Industry, trade, and services (1,566 projects)
• Transport services (1,207 projects)

This is not only about restoring damaged schools, hospitals, or roads, but also about building new bomb shelters, upgrading medical equipment, and reconstructing housing and infrastructure. Particularly active areas include general secondary and preschool education, as well as the construction and outfitting of medical facilities. A significant share of projects is in water resource management, where water supply system restoration dominates, and in industrial and residential construction. The energy sector is no less critical, as many applications involve restoring energy infrastructure that the enemy has deliberately targeted for destruction.

According to DREAM’s estimates, financing all reconstruction projects in Ukraine will require about UAH 1.8 trillion. The transport sector needs the largest amount—UAH 873 billion. Of this sum, the lion’s share (UAH 780 billion) is for projects to build and repair rural and intercity roads, for which the current available funding totals UAH 24 billion.

The next most costly sector is Energy and Natural Resource Extraction, with a total estimated budget of UAH 265 billion. The largest subsector here is non-renewable energy (reconstruction and construction of combined heat and power plants, boiler houses for apartment buildings, etc.), with projects valued at UAH 163 billion. In third place by project volume is education—particularly secondary education.

A key challenge for our country is securing sufficient financial resources to cover such an enormous sum. As of July 20, Ukraine—together with all donors and investors—has only about UAH 166 billion, or 9.2% of the total need. Of this, the transport sector has secured UAH 42 billion (4.8% of its need), the energy sector UAH 37.7 billion (14%), education UAH 35 billion (17%), and healthcare UAH 17.4 billion (12.4%). However, since destruction continues, the need for reconstruction funding will only grow.

Sources of available funding

The majority of funds raised for reconstruction projects—UAH 102.31 billion—came from the state budget (UAH 77.71 billion) and local budgets (UAH 20.45 billion). International partners have provided UAH 63.80 billion, including UAH 22 billion from foreign governments, UAH 22 billion from donor funds, and UAH 19.7 billion from international organizations. Ukrainian legal entities have pledged to invest UAH 3.2 billion.

Thus, available funding is significantly lower than the needs in every sector. Ukraine must work to attract more resources—including implementation of the necessary reforms to improve public finance management.

At the same time, reconstruction in Ukraine is already underway, with thousands of projects under implementation. A systematic approach, transparency, and digital tools make it possible to coordinate the process effectively. Despite limited funding, the foundation for recovery has already been laid.