Ukraine wants donors to give more money to ‘stop Russia’
Aug 11, 2022, 4:02 AM | Updated: 4:18 am
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks via video-link at a donor conference for Ukraine held at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. The international donation conference will strengthen the long-term support for Ukraine with discussions on how financing, weapons production, training and demining can be strengthened going forward. (Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
(Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western nations Thursday to provide more money to help Ukraine’s military keep fighting nearly 5½ months after Russia invaded its neighbor.
“The sooner we stop Russia, the sooner we can feel safe,” Zelenskyy said while addressing defense leaders at a Denmark conference aimed at strengthening financing for weapons, training and demining work in his country.
“We need armaments, munitions for our defense,” he added, speaking via a live link from Ukraine.
The conference in Copenhagen is a follow-up to an April meeting at a U.S. air base in Germany that established the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which coordinates international military support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who attended the conference in Denmark’s capital, told journalists that acquiring more fighter planes is the country’s priority right now.
“In the first stage, we need fighters. After that, demining,” Reznikov said.
Denmark is co-hosting the daylong conference in Copenhagen with Britain and Ukraine. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the goal of the event was securing “concrete steps.”
He announced that Britain says it will send more multiple launch rocket systems and guided missiles to Ukraine to help it resist Russia’s invasion.
The new weapons, whose number wasn’t specified, come on top of several rocket-launch systems given by Britain to Ukraine earlier this year. Ukrainian troops have been trained in Britain to use them.
“Our continued support sends a very clear message, Britain and the international community remain opposed to this illegal war and will stand shoulder-to-shoulder, providing defensive military aid to Ukraine to help them defend against Putin’s invasion,” Wallace said.
Before the conference started, the Danish government said it would give Ukraine an extra 820 million kroner ($113 million), which would bring Denmark’s total contribution to the war effort to more than 3 billion kroner ($413 million). Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it “a huge donation.”
Part of the money would pay for 130 Danish troops to help train Ukrainian forces in Britain over the coming months.
“We will not let you down,” Frederiksen said as she opened the conference.
Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram said there was still unwavering Western support for Ukraine.
“There still is a very strong support to help Ukraine, also on the long run. It is decisive for Ukraine to be able to defend itself against the Russian attack,” Arild Gram said.
The Kyiv School of Economics released a report Wednesday assessing the cost of war damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure at more than $110 billion. The report said 304 bridges and more than 900 health care facilities were either destroyed or damaged.
___ Jill Lawless in London, and James Brooks in Copenhagen, contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
