Zelensky says rebuilding Ukraine will cost more than $1 trillion

Rebuilding Ukraine will cost more than $1 trillion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a video address to the General Assembly of the International Bureau of Expositions on Tuesday.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine is developing a system that will allow partner countries to become “patrons” of Ukrainian regions, cities, or businesses. “We’re already seeing interest [in the program] from France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Czechia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Austria, Greece, Canada, the U.S., Japan, and Australia. And that’s not an exhaustive list,” he said.

In the summer of 2022, Ukrainian authorities estimated the cost of repairing the damage from the war so far at $750 million. This fall, however, Russia began carrying out new large-scale attacks on Ukrainian cities and targeting the country’s energy infrastructure. According to the Ukrainian state power company Ukrenergo, all of the country’s major thermal and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged. The Ukrainian government has estimated the cost of the damage done to power infrastructure alone at $2 billion.