Although Moscow has ordered to keep the offensive in eastern Ukraine and continue with conquest of donbas, the country is already preparing, with the help of the international community, for the reconstruction of the country. A task that will require $750 billionas quantified by the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhalduring the Lugano Conferencewhich brings together this Monday and Tuesday in the Swiss town a thousand representatives of international institutions, allied countries and the private sector with the aim of starting to design the roadmap to recompose the country once the Vladimir Putin’s war.
“It is not a local project, of a nation, but a common task of the entire democratic world, of all the countries that can say they are civilized,” the president said by videoconference. Volodymyr Zelensky that has blamed all the current crises – food, energy, migration or inflation – on a Russia that has been bombing its country for weeks. “It is not just a bombing. It is an ideological confrontation. The terrorist state hopes that this destruction will become proof of the alleged inability of the democratic system to give people at least a normal life (…) Russia wants to show that it dominates not only a territory but life itself,” he denounced.
The Lugano meeting, co-chaired by the Swiss Confederation and Ukraine, was already marked on the calendar before the Russian invasion, on February 24, although initially it was to focus solely on the reforms that Ukraine must undertake and the fight against corruption. Four months of war, however, have left behind a trail of destruction that has forced the focus to be slightly altered and centered on the “colossal” investments necessary to get the country up and running again, although both legs “reinforce each other” , recalled the Swiss president, Ignatius Cassis. But “who should pay for the reconstruction plan, already estimated at 750,000 million dollars?” asked Schmyhal, part of the large Ukrainian delegation displaced to Lugano.
Russia must pay
kyiv is clear. Firstly, the reconstruction should be financed from the goods and assets confiscated from Russia and the Russian oligarchs through international sanctions against Moscow. Second, through international aid; third, through contributions from the private sector; in four, with contributions from individuals at the private level, and finally, with the Ukrainian budget. “As President Zelensky has said, the task ahead of us is colossal” and “it is not only in our interest but also a moral obligation”, recognized the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenwhich has announced the creation of a reconstruction platform which will be in charge of outlining investment needs, coordinating measures, channeling resources and supporting the country’s ambitious reform program.
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This forum will bring together countries, institutions, international organizations, the private sector and civil society from around the world and will not be the only movement to support kyiv. Von der Leyen has also announced the call, together with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, of a high-level international conference after the summer that will bring together “the world’s brightest minds and leading experts on reconstruction to ensure that this commitment is made in the right way”. Something that will give “investors more confidence” that it will be spent efficiently and effectively, with maximum impact for the people of Ukraine.
“We have to start preparing for reconstruction now and this means setting priorities, organizing what everyone does, ensuring high standards of transparency and coordinating support,” said EBRD President Odile Renaud Basso. “The Kremlin’s goal is the military, political and economic destruction of Ukraine. It wants to undermine the very existence of Ukraine as a state. We cannot and will not allow this to happen,” recalled Von der Leyen, who has estimated at 6.2 billion euros financial support to the country from the EU since the beginning of the invasion.