Ukraine seeks G7 aid to cover budget deficit
Ukrainians asked for $50 billion in financial support from the G 7 countries to cover a budget deficit that has been created by the military conflict with Russia. The government's economic adviser Oleg Ustenko made a call in a television address on Sunday.
Kiev is considering issuing 0% coupon bonds to bridge the fiscal gap, as the country is currently facing an estimated $7 billion deficit a month.
There are no agreements on new financial aid, but Ustenko claimed that the issue will be discussed with Ukraine's Western backers over the next week.
The World Bank is preparing a 1.5 billion support package for the country. The development lender's fund for the poorest states will pay $1 billion for the loan. The funding comes with $923 million in fast-disbursing financing approved by the institution last month.
The US and NATO have also been sending billions of dollars to Ukraine, although in the form of military aid rather than cash. The White House approved another $800 million in weapons, ammunition, and other military assistance last week, including artillery systems, rounds, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters. It comes less than a month after Washington sent an $800 million bundle of anti-aircraft systems, firearms, ammo, and body armor Kiev s way last month.
Washington s contribution has been matched by that of the European Union and several individual member states, including Germany and Sweden, some of which have violated their long-standing policies of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war by flooding Ukraine with anti-tank weapons, Stinger missiles and armored vehicles, among other military equipment.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted a video calling for the rest of the world to ArmUkraineNow, complete with a grocery list of the desired equipment, despite a constant stream of military support from the US and its NATO allies. The Ukrainian leader claimed that if countries failed to deliver, Poland, Moldova, Romania, and the Baltic states would quickly fall under the tanks of the Russian army.
Moscow has stated it doesn't have plans to occupy Ukraine, let alone invade neighboring nations, but the talking point has become a favorite for Zelensky.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to take the two republics by force.