Ukraine needs $7 bn a month to recover from economic losses: Volodymyr Zelensky

Kyiv: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine needs $7 billion per month to make up for economic losses caused by Russia's invasion of his country.

The "Russian military is aimed at destroying all objects in Ukraine that can serve as an economic base for life. That includes railroad stations, food warehouses, oil, refineries," Zelenskyy told leaders of the World Bank and IMF via video link at a meeting to discuss a financial lifeline for Kyiv.

Zelensky said the global community needed to exclude Russia immediately from international financial institutions and urged all countries immediately to break up relations with Moscow.

He said the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports has blocked Ukrainian exports, impacting world food safety.

Meanwhile, the United States will send another $800 million security package and an additional $500 million in direct economic assistance to Ukraine as its military fights off a renewed Russian assault, President Joe Biden said Thursday.

"This is money the government can help use to stabilize their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught, and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine," Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

This comes following the World Bank's report which reveals that the physical damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure from Russia's invasion has reached roughly $60 billion and will rise further as the war continues.

World Bank President David Malpass on Thursday told at a conference that Ukraine's financial assistance needs that the early estimate of "narrow" damage costs does not include the growing economic costs of the war on Ukraine.

"Of course the war is still ongoing, so those costs are rising," Malpass said.