EU to create platform for reconstruction of Ukraine

The platform will be used to draft investment needs, co-ordinate operations and channel resources, she said.

“Since the start of the war, the European Union has mobilised around 6.2 billion euros (6.48 billion euros) in financial support”, von der Leen said. “and... more will come. We will be actively engaged in medium- and long-term reconstruction”.

The platform will unite countries, institutions, the private sector and civil society. It will also include international organisations, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

The European Investment Bank, the European Union's lender arm, is proposing a previously used financing facility during the COVID-19 pandemic to help rebuild Ukraine by up to $100 billion euros (104.3 billion euros) investment, Reuters reported on Monday.

“Beyond the reconstruction platform, the European Commission can provide its broad expertise in running programmes combining reform and investment”, von der Leenen said.

Besides, we've been working closely with Ukraine for a long time. And this will only intensify now that Ukraine has officially become a candidate to join the Union”.

Europe has a particular responsibility and a strategic interest in being on Ukraine's side, she added.

The Kremlin's goal is the military, political and economic destruction of Ukraine”, she said. “They want to undermine Ukraine's very existence as a state. We can't and won't let this happen”.

Leaders from dozens of countries and international organisations will meet on 4 July in Lugano, Switzerland, at a meeting aimed at drawing up a guide for the reconstruction of Ukraine as Russia intensifys its attacks.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyeen are expected to attend the two-day meeting in Lugano.