Latest Developments:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with the head of the World Bank about “the post-war transformation of Ukraine.”
- Ukraine's military said Tuesday it is carrying out “offensive actions” in the Melitopol and Berdyansk areas
Ukraine's defense ministry said Tuesday its forces shot down 32 of 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia used in an aerial attack that targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine's air force said the biggest focus was the Kyiv region.
Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said on Telegram that the drones came in several waves, and that air alerts in Kyiv lasted for three hours.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In the Lviv area in western Ukraine, regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said Russia used drones to strike a critical infrastructure facility
Officials in the Zaporizhzhia also reported Russian missile strikes on telecommunications infrastructure and agricultural areas.
Ukraine reconstruction
Ukraine is seeking $40 billion in funding for the first phase of a “Green Marshall Plan” to repair its economy. During a two-day meeting in London starting Wednesday, politicians and investors will discuss Ukraine's short-term and long-term economic reconstruction which includes developing a coal-free iron and steel industry.
According to the World Bank, Ukraine's reconstruction will cost upward of $400 billion, three times the country's gross domestic product. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, external backers have poured $59 billion into Ukraine to support it during the war.
One of the issues expected to be discussed during the two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference is whether the estimated $300 billion of frozen Russian central bank reserves will go to Ukraine.
Britain on Monday introduced legislation that will allow it to keep sanctions against Russia in place until Moscow pays compensation for the cost of its invasion on Ukraine.
“Ukraine's reconstruction needs are – and will be – immense," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. "Through our new measures today, we're strengthening the U.K.'s sanctions approach, affirming that the U.K. is prepared to use sanctions to ensure Russia pays to repair the country it has so recklessly attacked."
U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and the Democratic parties introduced a bill Thursday that would make it easier for Ukraine to fund its fight against Russia by using seized and frozen Russian assets.
Kakhovka dam
The Kremlin said Monday that Russia's decision to decline U.N. help in areas of Russian-held Ukraine flooded by the Kakhovka dam breach was because of security concerns.
"There is constant shelling there, constant provocations, civilian objects and people are being shelled, people are dying," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The United Nations confirmed Sunday that Moscow declined its requests to help residents of Russian-controlled areas of southern Ukraine affected by the Kakhovka dam collapse and pledged to continue seeking access.
“We urge the Russian authorities to act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said Sunday in a statement.
More than a dozen people have died while 31 are still missing after floods caused by the dam's destruction, according to Ukraine's interior ministry. Almost 900 homes remain under water and more than 3,600 people have been evacuated.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
