DREAM: From damage log to Ukraine's reconstruction system

On July 15, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine formally established DREAM as the unified digital system for preparing and monitoring all public investment projects through Resolution No. 945. 

The next day, the ministry that owned the system split into two as a result of the resolution, the deputy prime minister in charge of the system left the government amid a wider reshuffling, and the system's technical administration was transferred to a state-owned enterprise focused on reintegration rather than IT. 

The system's scope has never been wider, yet its institutional foundation has never been more fragile.

The main challenge of reconstruction today lies not only in funding or rebuilding, but in managing the processes. Before constructing new buildings or restoring damaged ones, it must be determined if the building is necessary and what functions it should serve. 

This stems from three issues:

“On the one hand, we must help rebuild infrastructure that has been damaged or destroyed by the enemy,” said Viktor Nestulia, head of the DREAM Project Office. “A restored building or utility network should not simply replace what has been destroyed. The goal is to meet residents’ needs as fully as possible, support the community’s economic needs, and stimulate its socioeconomic growth.”

By 2026, about two-thirds of Ukrainian communities had approved medium-term investment plans, created up to 800 unified project portfolios, and uploaded over 17,500 projects to DREAM. However, many people still do not fully understand the platform's purpose.

“Among them [the projects] are the purchase of, excuse me, a urine analyzer, the purchase of furniture, the replacement of windows, routine roof repairs, and so on. Communities have not yet fully learned to distinguish between public investments and capital expenditures,” said Nestulia.

The same applies to government projects. For example, the government’s 2026 portfolio includes the 750-kV “Zaporizhzhia NPP-Kakhovka” overhead line project, despite this being located in an area where construction is currently impossible. 

Yet the system has also earned the support of donors.

"Once the European Investment Bank (EIB) understood how this works in practice, they set a requirement to run the selection process through DREAM as well," said Inna Stets, COO of the DREAM Project Office. "Why? Because it's transparent and clear. It follows a single procedure."

“Open data will matter greatly for managing reconstruction — it's the foundation of trust. Only with transparency and accountability can we count on financing and support for reconstruction," said Oleksandra Azarkhina, former Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine. “The DREAM system was conceived from the start as a case of close cooperation between the state, the public, and international partners.”

Transparency is also what makes accountability checks possible. 

Signs of violations have been found in 10-15 percent of the projects reviewed by Big Recovery Portal, the civil-society tracker that analyzes DREAM projects on the ground.

For over a year, the DREAM system was considered a temporary solution. But on July 15, 2026, Resolution No. 945 closed this loophole and approved the DREAM Regulations as the permanent analytical system for public investment projects and programs.

This was necessary to implement the public investment management (PIM) reform roadmap approved in 2024. 

“We're moving beyond the idea that DREAM is just about recovery. Public investments are, first and foremost, about strategic planning. Our task is to fully integrate the reform into a transparent, digital, and accessible system — so that every citizen can understand and trust it,” Stets said.

As a result of the reform, the system finally gained a legal framework.

The same resolution that finally granted DREAM permanent legal status also stripped it of the team that built it. Technical administration moved from the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, which had run the system since 2022, to a state enterprise called "Reintegration and Recovery." 

A day later, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, who had held the reconstruction portfolio at Cabinet level for two years, was dropped from the new government because of a wider reshuffling, and no one replaced him at that rank. 

The day after that, the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories, DREAM's legal holder, was split in two. According to a Ministry of Development representative, the ministry was too large and was trying to do too many things at once. Therefore, the split is intended to reduce its workload.

However, the Agency for Restoration Head Serhiy Sukhomlin identified DREAM's owner as “the state represented by the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories” — the ministry renamed and split three weeks earlier. The Agency itself, Sukhomlin said, now performs only “the functions of a DREAM system user” — a formal step down from the administrator role it held since 2022. 

At the moment, what’s on paper won’t necessarily affect the overall functioning of DREAM. There’s a clear communication gap, with corporate registry records showing that both the old and new ministries share the DREAM mandate. However, the Cabinet has not publicly acknowledged this.

DREAM was also built to aggregate data from registries it doesn't own, such as Prozorro's procurement records, the state construction system, and Treasury payment data. Each of these registries is governed independently of DREAM's own administration. 

This means the underlying paper trail doesn't really depend on whoever runs the DREAM interface this quarter. Simply put, the dashboard's management can wobble without the underlying ledgers going dark.

"The administrator handover concerns exclusively the technical provision of the DREAM system's functioning and doesn't change the mechanisms of preparation, implementation, monitoring, or reporting on projects, nor Ukraine's obligations to international partners," Sukhomlin told BuildBack, adding that IFIs and international partners should expect no material change in their relationship with the Agency for Restoration.

On July 10, the Kyiv region marked the completion of its longest-running UNITED24 housing project when the final six of 18 war-damaged apartment buildings were handed over in the Irpin, Borodianka, Hostomel, and Dmytrivska communities. 

"There are 17 through-holes, shattered windows, three completely burned-down apartments, and a damaged roof and facade, " said Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin, describing the aftermath of Russian shelling on one of the buildings. "After driving the enemy out of Irpin, we began working with homeowners' associations. With the support of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, we replaced the windows and provided building materials."

The final cost came in at ₴860 million, surpassing the original estimate of ₴719 million. Over 85 percent of the budget came directly from UNITED24 donors in 140 countries. Individual buildings carried their own donor stories. The UN Development Program (UNDP) provided technical oversight and quality assurance of the procurement process, applying "build back better" standards, which included improved insulation, rebuilt utility networks, and energy-efficiency upgrades.

Branded "Rebuild Ukraine," the initiative was launched in January 2023 as UNITED24's first major housing reconstruction project. The project targeted some of the earliest and most visible destruction from the full-scale invasion.

The project's completion allows just over 4,000 residents to return to the homes they were forced to leave more than three years ago. The Kyiv region alone has restored approximately 24,000 of the more than 30,000 buildings that have been damaged or destroyed since 2022.

A primary care clinic is on track to be built in Bucha's Tarasivskyi neighborhood using 3D construction printing technology. Designed to accommodate two family doctors and a nurse, the new clinic will provide primary care services to neighborhood residents.

The project is a collaboration between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Japanese company Serendix, and others.

Serendix is Japan’s first manufacturer of 3D-printed housing. In March 2022, the company printed its first house in 23 hours. In February 2024, at the Japan-Ukraine Conference on Economic Recovery, Serendix signed a memorandum with a local construction company to build post-disaster housing in Ukraine. The company committed to providing design data free of charge.

"We'll use a 3D printer for construction. It’s essentially a robot with artificial intelligence that allows us to build faster and at a significantly lower cost. This will enable us to address local needs with modern technology,” said Jean-Christophe Bonis, founder of the Team4UA Foundation, which constructed Ukraine’s first 3D-printed structure — a school building in Lviv, printed in 2022 using a COBOD printer.

Russian strikes have forced shipping lines to pull back from Ukraine’s Black Sea route since late July, cutting off the channel that carried roughly 90 percent of grain exports and anchored the country’s balance of payments.

The National Bank estimates Ukraine will miss $2.5 billion in exports, or 0.9 percent of GDP. Alternative routes currently move about 2.5 million tons a month, compared to 4-4.5 million pre-crisis. 

“Shipowners, captains and crews now weigh the threat to life first — freight rates come second,” said Dmytro Barinov, president of Ukrport, the Association of Ports of Ukraine. 

Ukrzaliznytsia is now negotiating with neighboring states to expand rail export routes, redirecting cargo toward Danube ports, Romania’s Constanța, and corridors through Slovakia and Hungary. Capacity is a fraction of what’s needed, however.

By: Oksana Zabolotna

Recovery of Damaged Cultural Heritage Sites 

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine №713 dated May 20, 2026

Why it’s important: This establishes Ukraine's first comprehensive framework for assessing, documenting, and restoring damaged cultural heritage sites, giving public authorities a uniform, transparent approach tied to the broader recovery and compensation system. Implementation may be slowed by procedural complexity, a shortage of specialized experts, and the lack of dedicated financing, especially in municipalities with limited administrative capacity. 

Proposals:

Stage: Entered into force on June 10.

Initiator: The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

What’s next: Implementation of the resolution.

FINANCES | Ukraine’s real GDP returned to growth in the second quarter, expanding 0.6 percent year-on-year and 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted), Ukraine’s State Statistics Service reported August 4.

FINANCES | The NBU raised its key policy rate to 15.5 percent on July 30, marking the fourth consecutive increase in this cycle.

EU ACCESSION | Hungary blocked the COELA working party's second attempt on July 22 to approve Ukraine's Internal Market and Competitiveness clusters. The vote was pushed to September 1, even though Kyiv formally opened its second negotiating cluster, External Relations, on July 14.

INFRASTRUCTURE | Ukrzaliznytsia signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Spain's Renfe on July 31 to develop rail links for passengers, freight, and intermodal transportation between Ukraine and the EU.

FINANCES | New Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi, the former CEO of Naftogaz, retained Serhiy Marchenko as finance minister in the Cabinet approved by the Verkhovna Rada on July 16.

EU ACCESSION | On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine's outgoing permanent representative to the EU, as deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, replacing Taras Kachka.

INFRASTRUCTURE | The EIB Group approved $20 billion in fresh European financing on July 16, including funding to upgrade Ukraine-EU border-crossing points along the TEN-T network: terminals, customs equipment, and digital systems.

There’s no internet, I couldn’t send colleagues a message, the signal was barely picked up, and I wouldn’t be able to hear anything anyway in a crowd of several thousand people.

I was pushing through protesters rallying against the dismissal of Defense Minister Fedorov, reading the cardboard signs with protest slogans along the way:

Ukrainians want a bright future for their country — that’s exactly why, for 26 days straight, they’ve been gathering for protests. So there will be something left to rebuild and restore.