Western Allies on Wednesday pledged several billion dollars’ worth of non-military aid to rebuild Ukraine amid Russia’s destructive attacks on its infrastructure.
“First important news from the #URC2023 conference in London,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted Wednesday, referring to the Ukraine Recovery Conference.
He wrote that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had announced $3 billion in financial support while European Union President Ursula von Der Leyen had pledged $55 billion (€50 billion).
Further, the United States, through Secretary of State Antony Blinken, announced a new $1.3 billion aid package for the “energy and infrastructure needs” of Ukraine, Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian President concluded his tweet by saying, “Ukraine’s recovery will become more predictable thanks to the unity and solidarity of the world. We thank all our partners for their support!”
The URC aims to harness private-sector investment. Sunak said more than 400 companies from 38 countries that have committed to invest in Ukraine, including BT, Virgin, Philips and Hyundai Engineering.
“As we’ve seen in Bakhmut and Mariupol, what Russia cannot take it will seek to destroy,” Sunak said. “They want to do the same to Ukraine’s economy.”
Zelensky addressed the delegates at the URC via video, stating, “We must move from vision to agreements and from agreements to real projects.”
According to the World Bank, it will cost a minimum of at least $411 billion to rebuild Ukraine over the next ten years.
At last year’s URC, Kyiv called for billions in frozen Russian assets to be used for Ukraine’s recovery. This week, Britain extended its sanctions against Russia for that very purpose.
And U.S. Secretary Blinken stated, “Let’s be clear: Russia is causing Ukraine’s destruction, and Russia will eventually bear the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction.”
