The UK will guarantee $3 billion of World Bank loans to Ukraine over three years to bolster its economic stability in the face of Russian aggression, Rishi Sunak’s government said as it prepares to host a two-day recovery conference in London.
(Bloomberg) — The UK will guarantee $3 billion of World Bank loans to Ukraine over three years to bolster its economic stability in the face of Russian aggression, Rishi Sunak’s government said as it prepares to host a two-day recovery conference in London.
Britain will also offer £240 million ($306 million) of assistance to Ukraine this year for programs including mine-clearance and disaster relief kits, as well as energy projects, the prime minister’s office said in an emailed statement.
Read More: EU Readies €50 Billion Ukraine Package Ahead of Donor Summit
“What Russia cannot take it will seek to destroy,” Sunak will say as he opens the conference on Wednesday, according to his office. “They want to do the same to Ukraine’s economy.”
Companies including Virgin, Sanofi, Philips, Hyundai Engineering and Citi will be represented at the conference, according to the government. The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction for Ukraine will be some $411 billion, with $14 billion needed for critical spending in 2023 — though that was before the destruction of the Kakhovka dam this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend virtually and both European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also expected to speak.
At a joint press conference with Blinken in London on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Vladimir Putin and his Russian allies should shoulder the burden of funding the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, saying that would be “natural justice.”
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