A lot of money is at stake in the reconstruction of Ukraine. The exact amount is still unclear, also because the war is not over yet. Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze does not want to let Russia get away financially.
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze has spoken out in favor of Russia being persuaded to contribute financially to the reconstruction of Ukraine. “At the moment there is no international law to make something like this possible,” Schulze said in ntv’s “Frühstart” and added: “I think it would make a lot of sense if Russia was also involved.”
With a view to the expert conference on Tuesday, Schulze said that it was not yet possible to put an exact figure on how much the reconstruction of Ukraine would cost: “There are now unbelievable sums of money being discussed, but in reality nobody can yet say exactly how much Money is needed because it will also depend on how much is unfortunately still destroyed.”
According to the SPD politician, Germany is playing a leading role in the country’s reconstruction. This is also absolutely necessary, since Ukraine is not far from Germany: “It is a neighbor in the Eastern Partnership. We must have an interest in strengthening the entire Eastern Partnership, because you don’t know what the Kremlin is doing, what Putin still has plans.”
Schulze said that reconstruction is a “real generation project”: “It will take a really long time and it will not only concern Germany and Europe, but is an issue for the whole world, which has to help finance it.”
With a view to the upcoming winter in Ukraine, Schulze emphasized that it was extremely important to help right now and to ensure that not only temporary accommodation was built that would then remain for a very long time: “You have to imagine that a lot of people fled inside Ukraine and are now in emergency shelters. They just need a roof over their heads, they need electricity, they need heat. The temperatures in Ukraine can get very cold.”
Asked about a possible end to the war and how that could be brought about, the SPD politician said: “This is not a decision that we make in Germany. It is a decision by Ukraine and there must not be anything like a dictated peace either. Olaf Scholz also made that very clear.”
