Ukraine needs $ 750 b for recovery plan, PM says

• Opines rich Russians should pay the bill to rebuild

KYIV (Reuters): Ukraine needs $ 750 billion for a three-stage recovery plan in the wake of Russia’s invasion, its prime minister said on Monday.

Denys Shmygal also told the Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by Switzerland that there had been over $ 100 billion of direct damage to Ukrainian infrastructure from Russia’s invasion.

“Today, the direct infrastructure losses of Ukraine stand at over $ 100 billion,” he said. “Who will pay for the renewal plan, which is already being valued at $ 750 billion?”

Shmygal added that the Ukrainian Government believed that a key source of funding for the recovery plan should be assets confiscated from Russian oligarchs.

He said Ukraine’s recovery plan had three phases: A first focused on fixing things that matter for people’s daily lives like water supply which is ongoing, a “fast recovery” component that will be launched as soon as fighting ends including temporary housing, hospital and school projects, and one that aims to transform the country over the longer term.

Ukraine PM: Rich Russians should pay the bill to rebuild

“We believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs,” he told a conference in the Swiss city of Lugano, citing estimates that frozen Russian assets were worth $ 300-$ 500 billion.

“The Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war. They caused this massive destruction and they should be held accountable for it.”

Russia has said its “special military operation” in Ukraine is meant to demilitarise its southern neighbour and protect Russian speakers from what it calls nationalists.

Ukraine and its Western allies say this is a baseless pretext for flagrant aggression that aims to seize territory.