It will take around $ 524 billion, or around 506 billion euros, to rebuild Ukraine, after three years of war against Moscow. These are the conclusions ofA World Bank report (Completed jointly with the European Union, the Ukrainian government and the United Nations) made public this Tuesday, February 25, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Russian invasion. Last year, this cost was estimated at 486 billion, which corresponds to an increase of 7 %.
The study details that “housing, transport, energy and industry infrastructure and schools are the most affected sectors” by destruction, with in particular nearly 13 % of the damaged Ukrainian real estate stock. The areas that run along the front line are the most affected by these damage, but the other regions are not to be outdone: around 30 % of the destroyed areas are far from the border regions.
This cost represents about three times the Ukrainian GDP (evaluated at 178 billion in 2023) and just over a quarter of the Russian GDP. This also corresponds to approximately twice the total amount of aids received by kyiv since the start of the war. Faced with these impressive orders of magnitude, a question now arises for the allies of Ukraine: that of reconstruction aid.
For the past few days, Europe has shown up. President Donald Trump, who has just reintegrated the oval office, completely reversed the American rhetoric of his predecessor Joe Biden. The New York billionaire did not hesitate to qualify the American president Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and to ask kyiv to account for the aid perceived since the start of the Russian invasion. During his visit to Washington at the start of the week, their French counterpart Emmanuel Macron did not deny the possibility for the United States (and all contributors to Ukrainian aid) “to be compensated, but not by the Ukraine, by Russia, because it was she who attacked “.
For his part, the American president did not release his pressure on the Ukrainian government, hoping to obtain an agreement with kyiv on the exploitation of rare gas and ores in Ukrainian territory. Initially, Volodymyr Zelensky said to refuse to sign a text that “ten generations of Ukrainians” should pay. This Wednesday, a compromise would have been found between the two countries without exact financial amounts having been announced. The Ukrainian president is expected in Washington from Friday, February 28.