Ukraine was already one of the poorest and most indebted countries in Europe when Russia invaded Ukraine last year. It was at war, and had been since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and Russia-supported separatist proxies took control of parts of eastern Ukraine.
Since then, the country’s needs and losses have grown exponentially, its labour force has been dislocated, key infrastructure destroyed and the environment degraded.
The full scale of what it has lost will only be known after Russian troops totally withdraw, but within months of the invasion Ukraine laid out a $750bn ‘recovery plan’ for its postwar future. It cannot achieve this on its own. The state will probably struggle to finance or attract enough private investment for the recovery plan so large-scale international assistance is needed. Ukraine’s debts should be cancelled and there must be a shift towards letting the state lead its own redevelopment.
