Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Tuesday for the US’ allies to pay Ukrainian wages and rebuild infrastructure in the war-torn country. Deeming the billions of dollars already committed by the US and Europe insufficient to keep Ukraine afloat, Yellen declared that Kiev will eventually need “massive support” on the level of the post-WWII Marshall Plan.
With US lawmakers poised to approve a $40 billion package of military and economic aid to Ukraine and the US government agencies involved there, Yellen addressed the Brussels Economic Forum on Tuesday to persuade European leaders to open their wallets for Kiev.
“I sincerely ask all our partners to join us in increasing their financial support to Ukraine,” she said.
The EU will soon have committed four consecutive €500 million ($520 million) packages of military aid to Ukraine since February, and €1.2 billion ($1.26 billion) worth of emergency loans since January. However, the Ukrainian government claims to need around $5 billion per month to keep the country’s economy alive.
“What’s clear is that the bilateral and multilateral support announced so far will not be sufficient to address Ukraine’s needs, even in the short term,” Yellen declared.