Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the international community to help rebuild Ukraine after the war.
Borrowing words used to launch the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War under the Marshall Plan, Ukraine’s president said his proposal to help cover a rebuild that looks set to cost more than $500bn was “designed to counter hunger, poverty, despair and chaos”.
Speaking by video link to a packed main conference hall at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelensky said: “I invite you to take part in this reconstruction. The work to be done is colossal. There are more than $500bn in losses. Tens of thousands of buildings have been destroyed.”
He has suggested a “special, historically significant reconstruction model” under which separate countries, cities and companies would take leading roles in rebuilding specific cities and industries in Ukraine.
“We need to build cities and industries. Thanks to this [patronage] model, the post-war rebuilding could be fast and efficient and the largest in Europe since the Second World War.”
Russian assets in various jurisdictions “should be found, seized or frozen, and allocated to a special fund to compensate all the victims of the war”, he told business leaders and officials, adding that this would set a precedent that could be used around the world.
The US and Europe have frozen assets worth €300bn from the Russian central bank, but have yet to confiscate them.
