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Assignment: Ukraine: Building back better

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Memorial to victims of mass killings in Bucha

21/12/2023 GMT

Ukraine: Building back better

BBC World Service - Assignment, Ukraine: Building back better

How will Ukraine ensure the billions needed to rebuild the country are properly spent?

Foreign donors have pledged billions to rebuild Ukraine after Russia's invasion. How is it cracking down on corruption, to assure them the money will be well spent?

Rebuilding Ukraine after the destruction inflicted by Russia will be a gigantic task. Foreign donors have pledged billions of dollars. But they want reassurances that the money will be properly spent, in a country which still has high levels of corruption. For Assignment Tim Whewell visits Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, site of some of the worst Russian atrocities, to see the beginning of reconstruction. A series of shocking reports by Ukrainian journalists into alleged misuse of rebuilding funds have forced local authorities in the area to explain themselves. But a new state reconstruction agency committed to transparency has now also started work in Bucha. And anti-corruption campaigners believe a new digital accounting and monitoring system they are developing in collaboration with the authorities will help turn Ukraine into a world beacon of openness. The government's slogan is "build back better." But what exactly does that mean? And can it be achieved?

Produced and presented by Tim Whewell
Studio Mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy

(Image: Memorial to victims of mass killings in Bucha. Credit: BBC/Rostyslav Kubik)

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