President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. File photoMOSCOW, May 16Vladimir Zelensky called on the International Monetary Fund to accelerate support for Ukraine and participate in the development of a program for its recovery. According to his office, on Monday he met with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva via videoconference. Zelensky noted that the monthly budget deficit of Ukraine is five billion dollars. «Therefore, he called on the IMF to accelerate the provision of support to our state. In addition, Volodymyr Zelensky noted the importance of financial support for Ukraine from partner states, in particular the United States, Canada, Japan and the countries of the European Union. He called on the IMF to actively participate in the development of a program for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine,» Zelensky's office said in a statement. 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 Kyiv 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 Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
