Ukraine on Monday announced a $750 billion plan to rebuild the war-torn nation, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the international community to take part in the “biggest contribution to maintaining world peace.” Zelensky argued that Ukraine’s recovery was vital not only for Ukrainians but also for the preservation of democracies worldwide. “The reconstruction of Ukraine is not a local project, it is not a project of one nation, but a common task of the entire democratic world — of all countries, all countries that can say they are civilized,” he said during the Conference on the Recovery of Ukraine in Switzerland. “Restoring Ukraine means restoring the principles of life, restoring the space of life, restoring everything that makes people human.” Reconstruction of Ukraine has already begun in some areas where Russian forces have withdrawn as Kyiv tries to repair government buildings, hospitals, schools, homes and basic infrastructure such as water and gas pipes. In this photo provided by the Presidential Press Office of Ukraine on Saturday, June 18, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participates in a meeting with military officials as he visits the war-torn Mykolayiv region. (Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Press via AP) Ukrainian missile attack kills three in Russia, Kremlin says But even as Ukraine tries to repair damaged areas abandoned by Russian forces, Moscow continues its deadly campaign in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin won the Luhansk region on Monday after more than four months of intense fighting. Russian forces are now trying to assert control over Donetsk, just south of Luhansk in the Donbas region. A Ukrainian soldier watches a strike on a warehouse on the outskirts of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region on June 17, 2022, as the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 114th day. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images) UKRAINE WAR: LYSYCHANSK, LAST REMAINING EASTERN STRIP, COULD FALL SOON, ADVISER ZELENSKYY PREDICTS Moscow in April claimed its goal in its “special military operation” is to gain “full control” of eastern and southern Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials have warned they believe Russia will make another push for Kyiv. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal has unveiled a $750 billion recovery plan that will meet the country’s immediate needs, with additional plans to follow based on longer-term requirements. Shmyhal said a major source of funding for the plan would have to come from “the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs.” “The Russian authorities are waging this bloody war. They have caused this mass destruction and they should be held accountable for it,” Shmyhal said. Ukrainian police medical examiners examine an area of burned Russian military vehicles destroyed during clashes in the village of Bervytsia, near Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, on Thursday, April 21. (Photo by ALEKSEY FILIPPOV/AFP via Getty Images) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP European Union executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said there would be “legal obstacles” to using seized Russian assets as it would involve criminal law. “But we think it is important that according to the ‘aggressor pays’ principle it is also Russia’s assets that are directed to the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he added. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Caitlin McFall is a reporter for Fox News Digital. She can be reached at [email protected] or @ctlnmcfall on Twitter.
