On August 1, 2019, the stakeholders of the project “Assistance in the Donbas environmental monitoring system expansion” (hereinafter the Project) held a kick-off meeting at the Aarhus Information and Education Center. The event was held as a part of preparatory phase for project activity "Research of the current state of Donbas Tailings Management Facilities and their possible emergency impact on water bodies under the military actions".

The representatives of central and local authorities, international organizations and scientific institutions discussed the vital environmental safety issues of the region - the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, the State Emergency Service, the State Agency for Water Resources, the State Environmental Inspectorate, Donetsk regional state administration, Luhansk regional state administration, Siverskyi Donets River Basin Authority, territorial bodies of the State Emergency Service and the State Environmental Inspectorate, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, scientific institutions and lead experts.

Mr. Mykola Kuzyo, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine for European Integration, in his welcoming remarks noted the relevance of European standards implementation tasks in water resources management and industrial waste management in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He thanked the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine for starting the project activity implementation aimed at resolving the important environmental issues of Donbass region, the Reform Support Team for the effective work coordination, and the Project team - Ecoplatform experts for many years work in this area.

The parties discussed the direction of further research and decided to focus on determining the aspects of:

• organization of TMFs operation;
• anthropogenic pressures on water bodies caused by TMFs operation;
• the enterprises preparedness for TMFs emergency in situations of an armed conflict .

The kick-off meeting main results:

• the interaction mechanisms between project stakeholders established - the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Donetsk regional state administration, Luhansk regional state administration, Siverskyi Donets River Basin Authority, OSCE and enterprises-TMF operators, selected for further research.
• a list of enterprises with TMFs for further research agreed
• the need for Project parties working meeting with TMF-operators representatives agreed.