Politics overshadows a conference to raise money for Ukraine

The longer-term questions are how to restore Ukraine’s economy to prosperity, and how to fund both the ongoing costs of government and the eventual reconstruction of the country. The World Bank estimated the cost of repairing the destruction wrought by the war at $486bn as of last winter, and that number does not include the recent damage to the power system. Ukraine’s entire government budget for 2024 is $87bn (about half of it is spent on defence), but its expected tax revenues come to only $46bn. The rest must be filled by foreign aid or borrowing. America’s approval in April of its long-delayed $61bn aid package for Ukraine will help, as does the EU’s €50bn ($54bn) aid package, which lasts until the end of 2027.