Within that package, roughly $520 million will go toward helping Ukraine overhaul its hampered energy grid, while $657 million will be used to help modernize the country’s border crossings, ports, rail lines, and other critical infrastructure, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
"That’s what this is about every day," Blinken told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London."But as Russia continues to destroy, we are here to help Ukraine rebuild — rebuild lives, rebuild its country, rebuild its future. Recovery is about more than just ensuring people have what they need to survive — food to eat, water to drink, medicine to take, heat in the winter, electricity in all seasons.
"Recovery is about laying the foundation for Ukraine to thrive as a secure, independent country, fully integrated with Europe, connected to markets around the world; a democracy rooted in the rule of law; a place where all Ukrainians have dignity, human rights, the opportunity to reach their full potential," he added.
The European Union will provide $54.5 billion in aid for 2024 through 2027, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said at the conference on Wednesday.“Brick by brick, house by house, school by school, together we are with Ukraine for the long haul,” she said. The World Bank has estimated it'll take more than $400 billion to rebuild the country, according to the Washington Post. Russian forces have relentlessly attacked Ukraine's infrastructure throughout the course of the war, leaving once thriving cities pulverized by continued aerial attacks.