According to a joint assessment released today by the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations, and Ukraine**, Ukraine needs nearly $500 billion to cover the costs of rebuilding from Russia's invasion.
Agence France-Presse reported that the European Commission's summary of the latest report pointed out that the total cost of Ukraine's reconstruction and recovery over the next decade is $486 billion, up from an estimate of $411 billion a year ago.
The European Commission also said that Ukraine will need $15 billion in 2024 alone to meet its most urgent reconstruction needs, such as repairing homes and important transport hubs.
Ukraine has called on the West to release about $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to fund a huge project to repair Ukraine's infrastructure.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal said today that Russian assets frozen and confiscated by the West should be regarded as an important resource for Ukraine's recovery.
According to the latest report, 1 in 10 homes in Ukraine have been damaged or completely destroyed in the two-year Russia-Ukraine war; The report also highlights the massive damage to the environment and agriculture caused by the explosion of the Kakovka dam in June last year.
The report said the losses were concentrated in Ukraine's four frontline oblasts, namely Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia claims to have annexed, although losses were also heavy around the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv Oblast in the northeast.