Ukraine Allies Pledge $1 Billion To Bolster Its Infrastructure Needs

About 70 countries and institutions pledged more than $1 billion in new aid to Ukraine on Tuesday to repair the infrastructure that Russia has relentlessly battered with airstrikes in recent weeks, cutting power and water supplies for millions of Ukrainians during the winter months.

After global officials met in Paris, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the money came from “new commitments. … It is aid, or gifts in kind. It is not loans.”

She said the assistance would be “rolled out in the next days and during the months of winter which will help strengthen the resilience of civilian infrastructure.”

About $400 million would be aimed at helping Ukraine’s energy sector, which Russia has repeatedly targeted with waves of airstrikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the aid meeting via video link that his country needed at least $840 million. 

“It’s a lot, but the price is less than the cost of blackout,” Zelenskyy said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia is trying to “plunge the Ukrainian people into despair,” and that the goal of the conference was to help the Ukrainian people “get through this winter.

Later, Colonna told a news conference, “We cannot leave them [Ukrainians] alone faced with winter, faced with their aggressor, which is seeking to inflict difficulties on them.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told reporters that the new aid “is a very powerful signal. It shows that the whole of the civilized world is supporting Ukraine.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is providing 40 generators to help power hospitals in Ukraine and 800 generators for use at other sites throughout the country. 

Von der Leyen said countries need to do what they can to work together to coordinate, optimize and speed up their support for Ukraine, and that Russia’s war against Ukraine’s economy and basic services demands a “firm response.” 

The conference followed a pledge Monday from the leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements for military and defense equipment. 

Von der Leyen said countries need to do what they can to work together to coordinate, optimize and speed up their support for Ukraine, and that Russia’s war against Ukraine’s economy and basic services demands a “firm response.”

The conference follows a pledge Monday from the leaders of the Group of Seven nations to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements for military and defense equipment.

In a statement released by the White House, the G-7 condemned “Russia’s continuous inhumane and brutal attacks targeting critical infrastructure, in particular energy and water facilities and cities across Ukraine.”

The statement called these “indiscriminate attacks” a “war crime.” It also condemned those who are “facilitating Putin’s illegal war.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, president of the G-7, committed to rebuilding Ukraine’s financial stability and compared the reconstruction of Ukraine to the Marshall Plan implemented by the U.S. to help Europe rebuild after World War II.

Meanwhile, Russian forces blasted eastern and southern Ukraine on Monday with missiles, drones and artillery. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal appealed for Patriot missile batteries and other high-tech air defense systems to counter Russian attacks.

At least eight civilians were wounded Monday in a Russian rocket attack on the town of Hirnyk in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, said Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Moscow “is continuously terrorizing peaceful Ukrainians,” Kyrylenko added before urging remaining residents to flee Donetsk Oblast. The area has become the epicenter of fierce fighting, and the damaged power infrastructure has left millions without power in subzero temperatures.

In his nightly address Monday, Zelenskyy said Russia will continue to target Ukraine’s power grid. “Russia still hopes for blackouts. This is the last hope of terrorists,” he said.

“As long as they have missiles — and Russia still has them — please take seriously all warnings from the Ukrainian military command, from our Air Force and air alarms. At all levels, we must be prepared for any hostile intentions. And we will do everything to get through this winter,” he added.

Since October, Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s power grid. Zelenskyy says the attacks are war crimes targeting civilian life, while Moscow says they are militarily legitimate.

According to a Pentagon senior official, Russia will burn through its fully serviceable stocks of ammunition by early 2023. “They have drawn from [Russia’s] aging ammunition stockpile, which does indicate that they are willing to use that older ammunition, some of which was originally produced more than 40 years ago,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Monday he anticipates another wave of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine in Europe over the winter because of “unlivable” conditions.

“There will be hundreds of thousands more as the horrific and unlawful bombing of civilian infrastructure makes life unlivable in too many places,” Egeland told Reuters.