Kyiv’s allies, including the US and UK, vowed to make Russia pay for its invasion of Ukraine and pledged support for Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts during a conference in London.
Western allies on Wednesday promised to make Russia pay for its invasion of Ukraine as governments and private investors met to fund the country’s reconstruction from the ravages of war.
The World Bank has put an estimated $14 billion on Ukraine’s immediate needs for repairing the damage caused by the bitter fighting.
But a recent study by the World Bank, the UN, the European Union, and the Ukrainian government said the broader recovery of the economy would cost $441 billion.
“Let’s be clear: Russia is causing Ukraine’s destruction,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told delegates at the London conference.
“And Russia will eventually bear the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction,” he added.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak voiced a similar message, promising to keep tough sanctions in place “until Russia pays up” and use seized assets to get Ukraine back on its feet.
The conference comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky oversees a military fight-back by his troops using Western-supplied heavy weaponry to regain territory lost to Russian forces since last year.
But he set out his stall for future investment in Ukraine. Despite the devastation, he said the country was ripe for development in sectors from technology and green agriculture to clean energy.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen recapped the EU executive’s support package for Ukraine of 50 billion euros ($55 billion) over the next four years.
Blinken announced more than $1.3 billion in additional US aid.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
