Blinken Announces $1.3 Billion for Ukraine at Reconstruction Conference

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $1.3 billion in new economic aid for Kyiv at a meeting on Ukraine’s reconstruction held in London, known as the Ukraine Recovery Conference.

According to the State Department, the $1.3 billion will go toward “general economic assistance, assistance to repair and modernize Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and support for Ukraine’s commitment to energy sector reforms.”

The $1.3 billion is being drawn from spending Congress has already authorized for the Ukraine war, which at this point totals $113 billion. The State Department said that the new aid is in addition to the $63 billion in US assistance provided to Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

Of that $63 billion, more than $40 billion was military aid, although the Pentagon claimed on Tuesday that it overvalued weapons it sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion, freeing up more funds to arm Kyiv. The $63 billion also includes $2.1 billion in humanitarian assistance and $19.3 billion in direct budgetary aid, which funds the Ukrainian government.

At the conference in London, the EU also pledged $54.5 billion in long-term reconstruction support for Ukraine that’s intended to be provided from 2024-2027. The pledges are just a fraction of the $411 billion the World Bank estimates is needed to rebuild Ukraine.

The EU is also looking to use frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, which would be an unprecedented move. The idea would be to invest over $200 billion in Russian funds the EU controls and send the profits to Ukraine.

Source: Antiwar

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave. View all posts by Dave DeCamp

Image: Anthony Freda Art – “Endless War”

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