Ukraine announced financial losses, asked for Western aid

April 21, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Ukraine has suffered more than $500 billion in losses and needs billions of dollars in aid every month just to survive. Kiev estimates the country’s GDP to fall by 30-50%.

“According to preliminary estimates, Ukraine has lost $ 550 billion due to the devastation,” President Zelensky said during an online roundtable with Western financial institutions. Ukraine needs at least $7 billion a month to rebuild its economy, Zelensky added.

This is the same number that President Zelensky told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, although at the time he claimed the amount was only enough for the Ukrainian government to pay salaries and pensions. .

“With your support, we will quickly rebuild the country, which means opening up new business opportunities from different countries,” President Zelensky said at the roundtable on Sunday. 21.4.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, who is visiting Washington, said that Ukraine’s GDP could fall by 30-50% due to the conflict. He also cited preliminary analyzes of “direct and indirect damage” from the war at $560 billion – and said reconstruction would cost $600 billion or more.

Earlier, on the same day of April 21, US President Joe Biden pledged an additional $500 million in direct financial aid to Kiev – bringing the total amount of aid to $1 billion since February – along with another $800 million. for weapons, ammunition and equipment. US military aid to Ukraine has exceeded $3 billion since the start of hostilities on February 24.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine at the end of February, after accusing Kiev of failing to comply with the terms of the Minsk agreement, first signed in 2014 and eventually Moscow’s recognition of the self-proclaimed Donbass republics Donetsk and Lugansk. The Minsk agreement brokered by Germany and France was designed to give the breakaway regions special status in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country and will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev asserts the attack of Russia is completely gratuitous and refute claims that there are plans to retake the two republics in Donbass by force.