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Ukraine on Monday announced a $750 billion plan to rebuild the war-torn nation, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the international community to join “the greatest contribution to maintaining world peace.”
Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine’s recovery is crucial not only for Ukrainians but also for the preservation of democracies worldwide.
“The reconstruction of Ukraine is not a local project, not a project of one nation, but a joint task of the entire democratic world – of all countries, all countries that can say that they are civilized,” he said during the Ukraine Recovery Conference Switzerland. “Restoring Ukraine means restoring the principles of life, restoring habitat, restoring everything that makes people people.”
Ukraine’s reconstruction has already begun in certain areas from which Russian forces have withdrawn, as Kyiv tries to repair government buildings, hospitals, schools, housing and basic infrastructure such as water and gas lines.
In this photo made available by the Press Office of the President of Ukraine on Saturday, June 18, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting with military officials as he visits the war-torn Mykolaiv region. (Press Office of the President of Ukraine via AP)
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But while Ukraine tries to repair the devastated areas abandoned by Russian forces, Moscow continues its deadly campaign in eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday claimed victory over the Luhansk region after more than four months of intense fighting.
Russian forces are now attempting to assert dominance over Donetsk, south of Luhansk in the Donbass region.
A Ukrainian soldier watches a strike at a warehouse on the outskirts of Lysyhansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region June 17, 2022, as the Russo-Ukrainian war enters its 114th day. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Moscow claimed in April its goal was to use its “military special operation” to gain “full control” of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials have warned they believe Russia will make another attempt for Kyiv.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal unveiled a $750 billion recovery plan that would address the country’s immediate needs, with other plans to follow based on longer-term needs.
Shmyhal said a major source of funding for the plan would come from “the confiscated assets of Russia and the Russian oligarchs.”
“The Russian authorities are unleashing this bloody war. They caused this massive destruction and should be held accountable for it,” Schmyhal said.
Forensic investigators from the Ukrainian police investigate an area of burnt Russian military vehicles destroyed during fighting in the village of Bervytsia near Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, Thursday, April 21. (Photo by ALEKSEY FILIPPOV/AFP via Getty Images)
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European Union executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said there were “legal obstacles” to using confiscated Russian assets because it was linked to criminal law.
“But we think it’s important that Russia’s wealth also flows into Ukraine’s reconstruction according to the ‘aggressor pays’ principle,” he added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Caitlin McFall is a reporter at Fox News Digital. You can reach her at [email protected] or @ctlnmcfall on Twitter.