According to estimates, Russia's frozen assets in Western countries could cover a significant portion of Ukraine's reconstruction and defense costs. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in an article for Politico, listing the amount of Russian assets in a number of European countries and what can be rebuilt with them, UNN reports.
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Kuleba reminded that, according to the latest World Bank report, the total cost of restoring Ukraine has now reached $486 billion. Experts estimate that the direct damage from the war is almost $152 billion.
And Russian money can cover a significant portion of these huge recovery and defense costs
"Russia's current assets in the UK ($23 billion), Luxembourg ($6.8 billion) and Switzerland ($8.7 billion) will be sufficient to meet Ukraine's needs to restore its transportation infrastructure. This includes 16 damaged or destroyed civilian airports, at least 344 bridges and more than 25,000 kilometers of highways," Kuleba said.
"Meanwhile, the frozen assets in Germany ($6.5 billion), Austria ($1.8 billion), Ireland ($2 billion) and Poland ($1.13 billion) will be enough to help rebuild more than 3,500 damaged or destroyed educational institutions, including 1,700 schools, more than 1,000 kindergartens and 586 universities," the Foreign Minister said.
According to him, that's not all. "Russian assets in France ($1.48 billion) will be enough to build a new hydroelectric power plant to replace the Ukrainian Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which Russia destroyed last summer. And the profit from Russian assets held in the Belgian depository Euroclear reached $2.56 billion in 2022 and the first half of 2023 alone. This money could be used to restore 1,223 medical facilities, including 384 hospitals and 352 outpatient centers damaged or destroyed by Russia," the minister emphasized.
"All of this can happen as soon as the political will is there, and the time for that is now. It will be worth it," Kuleba summarized.