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Speech by President von der Leyen at the High-level International Donors' Conference for Ukraine
Speech given yesterday by President von der Leyen at the High-level International Donors' Conference for Ukraine.
First of all, I really want to thank you, Magdalena, you, Mateusz, for organising this. And it is wonderful, Denys, to have you here with us.
Dear fellow leaders,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The brutality of Russia's aggression is shocking the world. And I have seen it, indeed, with my own eyes when I was visiting Kyiv. And I went with you, Denys, to Bucha to see the mass graves; to see the body bags; to see the scars and wounds in the houses and hospitals that have been shelled, the kindergartens, the schools. It is atrocious. It is a war crime on an everyday basis that Russia is committing. And therefore, we stand by your side. We cannot match the bravery and the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people, but we can back you; we can help you; we can stand by your side.
We can help you with our economic power. On one hand, with the sanctions. Yesterday, we unleashed the sixth package of sanctions, and these sanctions are biting deep into the Russian economy. And this is the purpose of it. Putin has to pay a price for this aggression.
But second, also with economic power to support you. Over these ten weeks, since the beginning of the war, we have supported with EUR 4 billion in economic support, financial support. We have mobilised EUR 3.5 billion for the refugees in the European Union. But more importantly, three weeks ago, here in Warsaw, EUR 1.8 billion were already pledged for Ukraine. But for sure, this is not enough. And therefore, many thanks again for this pledging conference.
I have the privilege and the honour to start with the pledging. And we are happy to pledge EUR 200 million for the internally displaced people in Ukraine. And I hope that many, many more will follow us.
I have one last comment on what I heard from President Zelenskyy and you, dear Denys, as you were asking for practical steps. You are so right. Concerning reconstruction, you have our full support. We need, indeed, a reconstruction, as you said, to build a competitive, prosperous, you said ‘country of dream'. You have us on your side. I think that, if we manage to have the investment – hundreds of billions of euros – and the reforms, this will not only build your country anew, but this will also pave your way to the European Union.
Slava Ukraini.
