The European Union will set up a reconstruction platform to coordinate the rebuilding of Ukraine after its war with Russia, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said on Monday (July 4).
The platform will be used to map investment needs, coordinate action and channel resources, von der Leyen told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Swiss city of Lugano.
“Since the beginning of the war, we – the European Union for example – have mobilized around 6.2 billion euros in financial support and as you know, more has to come and more will come,” she said.
The platform will bring together countries, institutions, the private sector and civil society. It will also include international organizations like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.
Also addressing the Ukraine Recovery Conference, British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said her country was currently working on a new legislation that would allow the money seized from Russia and Russian oligarchs to be injected into Ukraine’s reconstruction, the cost of which Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said could reach 750 billion dollars.
“The United Kingdom is actively looking at how we legislate to seize assets from those who contributed to this appalling war. It’s vitally important that we acquire these funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” she told a panel discussion.
Shmygal said the support Ukraine would receive at the conference would be “crucially important for mental and moral feelings of our people.”
Russia has described its invasion of Ukraine, begun on Feb. 24, as “a special military operation”.
(Reuters)
