The World Bank has approved a loan of $1.5 billion for the reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
On Friday, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the money would go towards social security and economic development.
“In particular, the loan will help support subsidies for internally displaced people and pension payments,” Shmyhal noted.
The World Bank said in a press release its board of executive directors approved the Ukraine Relief and Recovery Policy Loan:
This loan is guaranteed by the Government of Japan under the Advancing Needed Credit Enhancement for Ukraine Trust Fund (ADVANCE Ukraine) and forms an integral part of the international support package for Ukraine to meet its financing needs in 2023.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Bank-mobilized support has enabled the Government of Ukraine to provide essential services that are reaching more than 13 million Ukrainians. With today’s announcement, the World Bank Group has now facilitated more than $37.5 billion in emergency financing in support of the people of Ukraine, including commitments and pledges from donors including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Iceland, and Belgium.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in April that leaders of the World Bank and other financial heads would need to pay at least $14.1 billion to help start repairing infrastructure.
Meanwhile, congressional war hawks are pushing additional Ukraine aid, as Breitbart News reported.
The news came after Wagner Group Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s short-lived uprising in Russia on Saturday.
After the debt ceiling deal, otherwise known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, was passed, it limited defense spending to $866 billion. This means that additional Ukraine aid would have to be passed through a supplemental package or by offsetting defense spending.
In May, President Joe Biden announced another $375 million in weapons aid for Ukraine, according to reports.
Officials in both the Biden and Zelensky administrations have confirmed the United States is to hand over another $375 million in so-called “military aid” to Ukraine.
In the same month, Hungary announced it would block an EU military aid package for Ukraine following revelations the “hostile” country planned to bomb an oil pipeline, according to leaks.
As The Daily Fetched reported:
Government officials in Hungary were furious with Ukraine branding the country as “hostile” over the alleged plans to blow bomb an oil pipeline, The Washington Post reported
According to the leaks, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy was reportedly considering an attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Hungary with oil.
Hungarian bank OTP was also blacklisted by Kyiv, listing the firm as a sponsor of Putin’s invasion, enraging Hungrain officials even more.
As the Associated Press reported, senior officials in the Hungarian government said they are blocking EU attempts to send more weapons to Ukraine in retaliation for being blacklisted.
Ukraine obviously won’t be “reconstructing” eastern Ukraine as that is now part of Russia, Putin will never give that occupied lands back. $1.4 billion might get you some buildings repainted, or a couple of roads fixed, but isn’t going to touch the damage done to Ukraine…..because of Ukraine.
No good ever comes to a country that gets in bed with the US.