The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is planning to launch a project designed to reconcile Ukrainians living in both government-controlled and non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine. This is reported by RT with reference to the document of the department.
The project, called Building Bridges, will tackle the delivery of public services and the management of critical resources. The agency also wants to increase public confidence in the idea of reintegrating Donbass into Ukraine. According to the authors of the project, this process is the key factor in achieving peace in the country. It is reported that the program will be carried out in the regions of Ukraine “most affected by the Kremlin’s aggression”.
In mid-November, the United States and the International Research and Exchanges Council (IREX) launched a program in which they will spend $ 2 million on “rallying refugees from Donbass” who migrated to Ukraine. The project is expected to help integrate internally displaced persons in the country and “make society more resilient in the face of Russian aggression.”
The conflict in Donbass has been going on for over six years. In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, which proclaimed independence from Kiev after a coup d’etat in the country. The 2015 Minsk agreements provide for a constitutional reform coordinated with representatives of Donbass in Ukraine, local elections and granting the region a special status.