GDANSK: A landmark conference on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction opened on Thursday in Poland without President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is snubbing the event over a diplomatic row with ally Warsaw. Leaders from Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Sweden, as well as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council head Antonio Costa will meet in the northeastern port city of Gdansk to urge businesses and countries to pour cash into Ukraine when the conflict ends.
The European Union on Thursday paid out the first three billion euros from a mammoth new loan to Ukraine, the bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen said. The 90-billion-euro financial lifeline is aimed at helping Kyiv plug budget black holes and bolster its military over four years into Russia's attack.
"Today, we are transferring the first tranche under this loan... it's exactly 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in macro-financial assistance," von der Leyen told a Ukraine recovery conference in Poland. "And we will start paying the first money of the six billion euros for drone production in the coming days," she said. The funds come at a time that Ukraine appears to be turning the tide on Moscow by holding the line on the battlefield and inflicting damaging strikes on Russia's infrastructure. — AFP
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