World Bank President David Malpass on Friday said that the physical damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure has reached $60 billion and is also going to rise due to war.
Malpass told a World Bank conference on Ukraine’s financial assistance needs that the early estimate of “narrow” damage costs does not include the growing economic costs of the war to Ukraine.
“Of course the war is still ongoing, so those costs are rising,” Malpass said.
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched the war on Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia rejected a proposed Easter truce, but that he remains hopeful of prospects for peace. Earlier this week Russia rejected the same request from the UN, stating the ask was not “sincere” and would give Ukrainian fighters more time to arm themselves. While Western officials said Putin is “still in a position to win” in Ukraine despite failing in his pre-war objectives. Russia had started to address some of the issues that had hindered its army at the start of the invasion, one official said. About 120,000 civilians are blocked from leaving Mariupol, Zelensky said. Three school buses filled with people from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia today after crossing through territory held by Russian forces, but Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said the number of evacuees was far smaller than had been hoped for.