The plan was announced by France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
EUR 1 bn for energy, transport, water, health, food
Colonna told reporters that EUR 415 million would be allocated for Ukraine’s energy sector, battered by Russian air attacks, while the rest of the amount would be earmarked for Ukraine’s transport, water, health and food sectors, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, as quoted by Reuters: “This is a powerful signal to show the civilised world is supporting Ukraine. We are grateful to the countries that remain by our side when we are suffering the aggression by Russia on our territory and our civilian infrastructure."
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been criticised by Ukraine and some European allies over the size of his country’s military support and for his remarks about needing to maintain dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s so-called 10-step formula for peace.
In his speech at the start of the Standing with the Ukrainian People conference, Macron pledged 63 more electric generators for Ukraine, in addition to 100 provided last month, and also promised EUR 48.5 million in financial aid, saying this would bring France’s assistance this year to EUR 200 million, according to Reuters.
Ukraine needs at least EUR 800 mln to combat Russia’s ‘energy terrorism’: Zelensky
Speaking via video link from Kyiv, Ukraine's Zelensky said his country needed at least EUR 800 million in emergency assistance to help withstand Russia’s “energy terrorism” and survive the harsh winter, according to news outlets.
Zelensky told the conference, as quoted by Reuters: “It’s a lot but the price is less than the cost of power blackouts,” .
A meeting between France, Ukraine and around 500 French firms was set to explore the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine, the PAP news agency reported.
New hub for Ukraine aid being set up in Poland: EU's von der Leyen
Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union’s executive Commission, announced that the bloc would set up a new hub in Poland to coordinate international assistance to Ukraine.
Von der Leyen said: "We are now creating a new hub in Poland, which will become operational already this week."
She added: "It is – quite simply – a network of warehouses from which goods can be transferred quickly into Ukraine. This hub will guarantee a rapid, reliable and cost-effective delivery. And we are ready to finance both the storage and the transport then, from Poland to Ukraine.”
Poland was represented at the Paris conference by Jakub Kumoch, a top foreign policy aide to President Andrzej Duda, reporters were told.
According to the World Bank, Ukraine’s GDP may contract by 40 percent this year as a result of Russia's invasion, the PAP news agency reported.
Tuesday was day 293 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, ukrinform.net, ec.europa.eu