The United Kingdom will host a conference next year that focuses on helping Ukraine rebuild and recover from Russia’s invasion and its mass destruction of the country.
Beginning today is The Ukraine Recovery Conference URC2022 in Lugano, jointly hosted by Switzerland and Ukraine. The conference was initially meant to be the fifth Ukraine Reform Conference, which is an annual high-level political event. But due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conference was refocused to deal with the current situation.
The ongoing two-day event in Switzerland is being attended by representatives of dozens of countries.
At the conference, a Ukrainian delegation has been brought together with representatives of other countries, international organizations, and civil society.
The United Kingdom announced it is working with Ukraine and other allied countries to host the conference next year and will sit on a supervisory board to help coordinate between Ukraine and its allies on recovery measures.
The reconstruction of Ukraine has been a massive topic lately, with Russia destroying mass amounts of the nation. It is currently estimated that the reconstruction would cost upwards of more than $1 trillion.
The UK Foreign Office said the United Kingdom was asked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to champion the recovery of Kyiv and the surrounding region.
The United Kingdom pledged to use its financial sector expertise to help draw investments into Ukraine in order to help with reconstruction and recovery. The UK has pledged $1.5 billion of guarantees for multilateral loans and over $120 million in bilateral support.
Zelensky said that the work needed ahead was“really colossal”. It has been four months since Russia invaded, and the devastating destruction continues in areas that Russia is still invading. Zelensky is expected to present a formal draft of Ukraine’s recovery plan this week at the conference.
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