Ukraine expects to sign agreements worth more than €10 billion over the next two days at a major reconstruction conference in Poland, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on Thursday, as the European Union released the first tranche of a €90-billion loan package to Kyiv.
The announcement came at the opening of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, setting a positive tone for the event despite recent tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv over historical disputes linked to World War Two-era massacres.
Svyrydenko said Ukraine anticipated signing more than 160 agreements during the conference, which is focused on rebuilding the country after more than four years of war following Russia’s invasion.
According to her, the deals will span defence, business and regional development.
“The challenges facing our continent are existential… We’re forced to innovate to survive, and this has become our superpower,” Svyrydenko told participants.
“So Ukraine empowers European defence. Ukraine empowers energy resilience.”
She also announced that the first €3.2-billion tranche of the EU loan package would be disbursed. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the funds were being transferred to Kyiv on Thursday, while Ukraine’s Finance Ministry later said the money had been received.
Ukraine has said it plans to use the loan to support defence and security, strengthen energy resilience and help cover its budget deficit.
Von der Leyen also revealed that a reconstruction investment fund backed by the European Union, France, Germany and Poland was ready to begin operations and could mobilise around €500 million this year.
“The message is simple that we are sending to investors,” she said.
“When you invest in Ukraine, you’re not only investing in Ukraine’s future, but you are investing in Europe’s future.”
The Ukraine Recovery Conference is the main annual international gathering dedicated to rebuilding the country following widespread destruction caused by Russian attacks, including repeated strikes on critical energy infrastructure.
According to estimates released in February by the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Commission and the Ukrainian government, rebuilding Ukraine’s economy will require approximately $588 billion over the next decade.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said hosting the conference in Gdansk carried special significance because the city itself was rebuilt after suffering extensive destruction during World War Two.
Tusk has also sought to ease growing tensions between Poland and Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
While many Ukrainians view the UPA as heroes for resisting both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and as symbols of Ukraine’s struggle for independence from Moscow, the group remains deeply controversial in Poland.
The UPA was involved in the Volhynia massacres between 1943 and 1945, during which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. Thousands of Ukrainians also died in retaliatory attacks.
The dispute recently escalated when Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a political rival of Tusk, stripped Zelenskiy of a prestigious Polish honour.
Addressing the issue, Tusk stressed that reconciliation and historical understanding were essential for Ukraine’s European aspirations.
“Ukraine rightly wants to be part of a United Europe,” he said.
“The condition for true, full unification has always been an understanding of one’s own history and a genuine capacity and willingness for reconciliation.”
The conference continues over the next two days with governments, international organisations and investors expected to discuss projects aimed at supporting Ukraine’s recovery and long-term economic reconstruction.
Boluwatife Enome
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