Ukraine’s eventual restoration through a $750 billion (£620 billion) stimulus package is the common task of the entire democratic world, Ukraine’s president said on Monday at the first detailed event aimed at chart a physical future for the country in case it survives. as a west-facing nation after the Russian invasion.

Speaking via video link at a high-level conference in Lugano, Switzerland, attended by many senior Ukrainian politicians, Volodymyr Zelenskiy admitted the task ahead was daunting, saying the war was a perspective battle in which Russia was determined to destroy the physical and physical integrity of its country. moral fabric.

He added that the recovery process led by a Ukrainian national recovery council would allow his country to deepen its ties with Europe.

The scale of the task is such that there is a risk of duplication of offers by multilateral bodies, as well as tensions between the plans drawn up by Ukraine itself and those prepared by bodies such as the European Bank of ‘investment. The willingness of the private sector to invest billions in Ukraine will depend on the country’s security and Ukraine’s ability to resist the clutches of the oligarchs.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, said Ukraine’s direct infrastructure losses amounted to more than $100 billion, adding that more than 1,200 educational institutions, 200 hospitals and thousands of kilometers gas pipelines, water and electricity networks, roads and railways had been destroyed or damaged. .

He said ordinary Ukrainians submitted 200,000 entries to an open government electronic map documenting incidents of destruction.

He claimed there would be three stages of recovery which together could require more than $750 billion in investment, a third of which would come from the private sector, and some from Russian reparations and asset freezes.

He said: “The Russian authorities started this bloody war and caused this massive destruction, and should be held accountable.”

The first step would be an immediate implementation plan beginning with emergency humanitarian assistance, such as restoring water supplies and bridges; a medium-term framework from 2023 to 2025 to revive destroyed communities through the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and housing, and finally a long-term modernization vision from 2026 to 2032 for a Ukrainian green digital economy that leaves finally the Soviet era behind it, and prepares the country for a possible accession to the EU.

The draft framework, which has been the subject of advice from more than 2,000 experts over six weeks, contains proposals for regional plans sponsored by overseas states and a 24-sector recovery plan to ensure that sectors such as domestic energy and agriculture can meet EU standards, and achieve 7% annual growth. But the hit to Ukraine’s economy is such that Kyiv needs another $30 billion to stay afloat by December.

Shmyhal insisted that Ukraine’s reform process would continue, saying the changes implemented before the invasion, including the digitalization and decentralization of government, had contributed to the country’s resilience in the face of the Russian attack.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, outlined plans for an EU reconstruction platform to map Ukraine’s investment needs, channel resources, shape strategic choices and coordinate bodies multilaterals, as well as private companies. The commission is exploring different ways to raise these funds, including grants and loans, as well as joint borrowing, similar to the EU’s pandemic recovery fund.

She has repeatedly stressed the need for reform and transparency on the part of the Ukrainian government to ensure that corruption does not undermine the integrity of any reconstruction program. She said: ‘We’ve never done it on this scale before’, adding that donors would need to know that not only are their money going to a good cause ‘but that it will be spent effectively and efficiently with impact. maximum for the Ukrainian people”.

Olena Zelenska, the president’s wife, told the conference that future spiritual reconstruction will be as important as material reconstruction.

Ukraine currently has 8 million internally displaced people, 6 million forced abroad, most of whom are children, and 22,000 teachers no longer working. She showed pictures of destroyed schools and hospitals and said that in the modern world, it couldn’t be seen as someone else’s war.