A policeman near anti-tank installations in the center of Kyiv. File photoMOSCOW, March 16Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, following talks with colleagues from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, called on partners to help fill the country's reconstruction fund, saying that $500 billion would be needed. Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that he, Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs, the head of the ruling party of Poland «Law and Justice» Yaroslav Kachinsky, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovenia Piotr Fiala and Janez Jansha arrived in Kyiv. On Tuesday evening, Vladimir Zelensky met with them, the corresponding video was published on his Telegram channel. Shmyhal also took part in the meeting. The issues of armaments and evacuation were discussed, in particular.
"We call on the whole world to help Ukraine… to replenish the funds for the renewal of our country and to renovate… An appropriate group has already been created and is working in our government, which is assessing the damage to the economy as a result of Russian aggression. Preliminary calculations say that the direct damage is 500 billion US dollars. These are the funds that will be required to restore our country — both at the expense of reparations from the Russian Federation and at the expense of our partners", Shmygal said at a briefing after the talks.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 . President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the President of Russia emphasized.