Kiev "settles" for damage, urges the West to send nearly 60 billion USD early; Prime Minister Shmyhal worries about being abandoned when the conflict ends

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on his ambassadors to actively work to attract the world 's attention and not to reduce the level of interest in the situation in Ukraine.

Ukraine situation: Kiev 'calculates' damage, urges West to send 60 billion USD for reconstruction. (Source: AP)

Ukraine expects to attract $45.8 billion from international partners to finance its 2023 budget and $14 billion to support a quick recovery. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced these figures at the 2023 Conference of Ukrainian Diplomats .

Traditionally, the Conference is held at the end of December every year, but this year, on the instructions of President Zelensky, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba convened the Conference earlier.

This year's Ukrainian Ambassadors' Conference is held under the slogan "Above all!". Ukrainian ambassadors gather with the country's leadership to discuss the main tasks of foreign policy, implementation steps, priority tasks, in order to promote interests and implement tasks as effectively as possible.

“This year, our task is to attract $45.8 billion for budget financing and $14 billion to accelerate the rapid recovery process,” Prime Minister Shmyhal said. “This is what we desperately need to create a mood among people, to give hope to society and to create a spirit for the problems Ukraine is going through.”

The Ukrainian prime minister said Kiev has so far attracted $28 billion. He also said its partners will continue to provide funding and reinforcements while the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues, but when it ends, the level of support will be significantly reduced.

"We will be left almost alone with our problems. Support will be much lower. This needs to be taken into account and maximum efforts made from today," Mr. Shmyhal revealed.

Therefore, Prime Minister Shmyhal called on those present (ambassadors) at the conference to actively work to attract the world's attention to Ukraine, so as not to reduce the level of interest. He stressed the important role of diplomats today is multifaceted and multifunctional, because they have to deal with everything, including weapons, medicines and humanitarian issues.

"For me, the diplomatic front is no less important than other fronts. Each ambassador is a 'guard' on a diplomatic front," Mr. Shmyhal said.

According to preliminary calculations by the Kiev School of Economics (KSE), as of June 2023, the total direct damage to Ukraine's infrastructure due to the military conflict with Russia is estimated at about $150.5 billion (at replacement cost).

Researchers' calculations show that the largest part of the total damage was to housing - about $55.9 billion, of which, damage due to flooding caused by the explosion at the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was about $1 billion.

Preliminary reports from regional military agencies indicate that as of June 2023, the total number of housing units destroyed or damaged by the conflict was approximately 167,200.

The infrastructure sector (transportation, railway infrastructure, road, aviation and port management) ranked second in terms of incurred damages (about 36.6 billion USD).

Losses to business assets are estimated at $11.4 billion. At least 426 large and medium-sized private enterprises and state-owned companies have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but the number of damaged businesses could be significantly higher, as there is currently no complete information about facilities located in temporarily occupied areas.

Direct damage to educational facilities was estimated at $9.7 billion, with nearly 3,400 educational facilities damaged.

Regarding the damage to the infrastructure of the Ukrainian energy sector, according to preliminary estimates, it is about 8.8 billion USD, of which 638 million USD is the direct damage caused by the explosion at the Kakhovka hydropower plant. Previously, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine estimated the direct damage caused by the explosion at the Kakhovka hydropower plant at nearly 2 billion USD. 8.7 billion USD is the direct damage to the Ukrainian agricultural sector.

The total damage caused by destruction and damage to social security, research and health care facilities, as well as cultural buildings, sports facilities and administrative buildings was approximately $5.9 billion.

The cost of rebuilding Ukraine's economy after the conflict with Russia is expected to reach $411 billion, 2.6 times higher than Ukraine's GDP in 2022, according to a study conducted by the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Commission and Ukraine, published in March 2023.

The World Bank also forecasts that the reconstruction of Ukraine will take many years. The estimated amount of money for reconstruction of Ukraine is calculated from the time the Russia-Ukraine conflict began (February 24, 2022). This figure is a sharp increase compared to the estimate of 349 billion USD given in September 2022.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tinh-hinh-ukraine-kiev-tinh-so-thiet-hai-hoi-phuong-tay-gui-som-gan-60-ty-usd-thu-tuong-shmyhal-lo-bi-bo-roi-khi-xung-dot-ket-thuc-237078.html