Speaking via video to politicians and experts gathered in Berlin for an international conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction, Zelensky urged participants to “take a decision to plug the Ukrainian budget deficit hole”. of 2023.
“It’s a very large sum of 38 billion dollars (…) it’s the salaries of teachers, doctors, it’s social benefits, pensions,” he insisted.
At the opening of the meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for “starting now” this reconstruction, believing that it was “nothing less than creating a new Marshall Plan for the 21st century”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also present at this conference, for her part considered “astounding” the extent of the destruction in Ukraine.
“The World Bank estimates the cost of the damage at 350 billion euros ($345 billion) – that is certainly more than any one country or union can provide. We need everyone on deck “, did she say.
In London, during his first speech in Downing Street, the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced “the terrible war” waged by Russia in Ukraine, giving his support to kyiv to win it.
Volodymyr Zelensky quickly replied to him on Twitter, congratulating him on his arrival at 10 Downing Street and saying he was “ready” to “continue to strengthen” the links between Kyiv and London.
– Steinmeier in Kiev –
The conference in Berlin began just as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Kyiv for his first visit to Ukraine.
Mr. Steinmeier said he was “rejoicing at his meeting” with Mr. Zelensky “and with the population in the north of the country” where he wants to “get an idea of their life in the middle of the war”, according to a text sent by his door -speech, Cerstin Gammelin.
Before meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, the German president was to visit the small town of Korioukivka, in the north of the country near the Belarusian border, which had been occupied by Russian troops.
Steinmeier’s visit, originally scheduled for kyiv a week ago, was canceled for security reasons.
Indeed, since October 10, the Ukrainian capital has been, for the first time in months, bombarded by Iranian-made Russian missiles and kamikaze drones which have mainly targeted energy infrastructure and left around ten dead.
This series of massive strikes by Moscow forces on kyiv and many cities against critical Ukrainian infrastructure led the national operator Ukrenergo to impose “restrictions on energy consumption in all regions” of the country, it said. he indicates.
On the ground after eight months of conflict, the fighting was raging, particularly in Bakhmout, a city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which the Russian army has been trying to conquer for months.
At least seven civilians were killed and three others injured on Monday in this city, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram on Tuesday.
In a residential area of Bakhmout, AFP journalists saw bloodstains on the ground following what residents said was a deadly attack the day before.
“I found a body here without a head. I’m in shock,” said Sergii, 58, who declined to give his name, adding: “It was a man. He was just walking down the street “.
AFP journalists also saw thick smoke rising above the city in the morning.
“There were advances overnight but we cannot give details at the moment, the situation is complicated,” a Ukrainian soldier engaged in the defense of the city told AFP, on condition of anonymity. .
In southern Ukraine, pro-Russian authorities in the Moscow-held city of Melitopol said a car bomb exploded near local media offices, injuring five people.
In the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, in the face of advancing kyiv forces, evacuations of civilians continued on Tuesday, pro-Russian authorities said.
“As of October 24, 22,367 residents of the Kherson region have been taken to the left bank of the Dnipro,” said the pro-Russian occupation administration, which said it “expects” the departure of “about 50,000 people” from this area in total “in the near future”.
