LUGANO
\nThe cost of rebuilding Ukraine following Russia\u2019s invasion could reach $750 billion and rich Russians should help pay the bill, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Monday.
\n\u201cWe believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs,\u201d he told a conference in the Swiss city of Lugano, citing estimates that frozen Russian assets were worth $300-$500 billion.
\n\u201cThe Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war. They caused this massive destruction and they should be held accountable for it.\u201d Russia has said its \u201cspecial military operation\u201d in Ukraine is meant to demilitarise its southern neighbour and protect Russian speakers from what it calls nationalists. Ukraine and its Western allies say this is a baseless pretext for flagrant aggression that aims to seize territory.
\nShmygal\u2019s views on Monday was echoed by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who said Russia needed to be held accountable for the damage caused by its \u201cappalling war,\u201d while Kyiv also needed help to rebuild its shattered economy.
\n\u201cWe are looking at options for the deployment of Rus\u00adsian assets,\u201d Truss said on the sidelines of the conference.
\n\u201cAt the same time we are doing what we can to get the Ukrainian economy restarted \u2014 getting those grain exports out of Odesa, making sure we are supporting Ukrainian industry and business to get going,\u201d she said.
\nShipping insurance and adequate weaponry to protect ports exporting grain were among the areas being looked at, Truss said.
\nAlso addressing the Ukra\u00adine Recovery Conference, European Commission Pres\u00adident Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would establish a central platform to coordinate rebuilding efforts and also help to cement Ukraine\u2019s status as a candidate for EU membership, which the EU agreed last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUGANO The cost of rebuilding Ukraine following Russia\u2019s invasion could reach $750 billion and rich Russians should help pay the bill, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Monday. \u201cWe believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs,\u201d he told a conference in the Swiss city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[9385,8555,9384],"class_list":{"0":"post-270004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-oligarchs","9":"tag-rebuild","10":"tag-ukrainian-pm"},"yoast_head":"\n