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Donors are continuing to make financial pledges to help Ukraine, with $6.5bn being raised yesterday in Warsaw. But the challenges for the war-torn, cash-strapped country are by far dwarfing those numbers. We’ll bring you up to speed with what was agreed and what is still missing, apart from the obvious — an end to the war.
Ukraine and Germany have mended ties, a month after Kyiv nixed a planned trip by Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, saying that he would not be welcome. Steinmeier’s spokesperson said yesterday that he had phoned Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and the “irritations of the past had been cleared up”.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, the sanctions saga continues, with Hungary digging in its heels and ambassadors set for another weekend of negotiations aimed at pinning down the oil embargo and the rest of the planned restrictions.
Funding Ukraine
Ukraine received more than $6.5bn in pledges for additional humanitarian aid yesterday during a donors’ conference in Warsaw, a sum that corresponds to the country’s needs for little over a month, writes Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv. This comes on top of last month’s global pledging event organised by the EU commission and Canada, that secured €9.1bn for refugees and internally displaced people.
The conference was co-hosted by the governments of Poland and Sweden, and the final amount raised was announced by Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki after Zelensky addressed participants via video link.
The conference was attended by EU officials, and donors included governments, organisations and multinational corporations. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced €200mn in support for displaced people in Ukraine, while France pledged a further $300mn at the conference.
Zelensky unveiled a new online platform, United24, or U24, allowing anyone in the world to donate funds to help his country win the war and later rebuild.
Attending the conference in Warsaw, Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal said his country had received more than $12bn in weaponry and financial assistance since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24.
But while the pledges and actual assistance do go a long way, more is needed. European Council president Charles Michel said that apart from humanitarian assistance, Ukraine still needed more financial aid to run its day-to-day business and for reconstruction.
Serhiy Marchenko, Ukraine’s finance minister, told the Financial Times in a recent interview that Kyiv needed $5bn a month in assistance during the near term from western partners to fill budget gaps.
And last month, the Kyiv School of Economics said “total economic losses since the beginning of the war are estimated at $564bn-$600bn or above”.
A trust fund for Ukraine that EU leaders decided to set up in March will be the cornerstone of the country’s own Marshall Plan, Michel said, referencing the US-led postwar reconstruction effort in Europe. “Together, we will rebuild a modern, prosperous and democratic Ukraine, a country full of confidence and ready to embrace its European future and its place in our common European family.”
Chart du jour: Backing Russia sanctions
According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, eight in 10 Europeans support EU sanctions on Russia — but there is a significant drop in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, particularly when it comes to the ban that applies to Russian state-owned media.
Czech-ing the embargo
Hungary may be continuing to play hardball on the EU’s sanctions package number six, but other countries are also making demands, writes Andy Bounds in Brussels.
In its initial proposals, the commission only floated Hungary and Slovakia as eligible for an extension in implementing the oil embargo. Now the Czech Republic is also seeking a two-year extension, arguing that more than half its oil comes through the Russian Druzhba oil pipeline, and the only alternative, the TAL pipeline from Germany, is full.
A plan to expand that alternative pipeline was hatched in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, but it got stuck as Brussels sought to favour the funding of renewable investments to meet climate change goals. “The EU was trying not to push fossil fuel projects so it only got to the analysis phase,” said an EU diplomat.
That will need to be accelerated, and Czech premier Petr Fiala visited Berlin yesterday to press the case.
Commission officials expect the Czech demands to be solved and even Hungary to acquiesce, eventually, in the coming days. They say they would not have tabled a package they did not expect to pass, albeit with possible amendments.
One EU diplomat said: “We know this package is very difficult for member states that are dependent on Russian oil. We are sympathetic. I am sure solutions can be found. It is not an easy step for anyone but it is a step we have to take.”
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What to watch today
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European parliament president Roberta Metsola and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speak at a State of the Union conference in Florence
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EU ambassadors continue talks on sixth sanctions package
Smart reads
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Soft problem: Europe may be starting to beef up its defence spending, but it remains ill-equipped when it comes to soft power, with each side in the European culture war still unappealing to billions of people around the world, writes ECFR’s Mark Leonard.
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Dubai investments: The international investigative journalism consortium OCCRP published this analysis into how blacklisted Russian politicians have been pouring money into Dubai real estate.
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Smart listen: In his latest podcast, Gideon Rachman explores why the global south has so far refrained from condemning Russia for its war in Ukraine and from adopting any sanctions emulating the west’s response.