On 4 June 2025, the Congress launched its new project, Strengthening Multilevel Governance and Local Democracy to Support Ukraine’s Recovery, followed by a high-level round table with national associations of local and regional authorities on the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Held in Kyiv, both events brought together Ukrainian and international stakeholders to reinforce democratic resilience, support local self-government, and promote human rights and justice for victims of the war.

The new project seeks to strengthen Ukraine's multilevel governance and local democracy during the war and post-war period by improving legal frameworks, enhancing the quality of local and regional governance, and promoting democratic innovations based on human rights and open government principles.

Marc Cools, President of the Congress, underlined the project’s long-term objective “is not to rebuild what was there before, but to build back better: more inclusive, more transparent, more democratic.”

The launch of the new Congress project was followed by a discussion with local authorities and national associations on the progress and outreach of the Register of Damage, a mechanism created to document and support claims for compensation. “Local authorities are key to ensuring the Register reaches every community affected by the war,” said Mélanie Lepoultier, Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights of the Congress.

These events were organised within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and the Project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine's recovery”, implemented by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.