Zelenskyy appeals to EU nations, Russia to 'restore Ukraine' once hostilities cease

Embattled Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday appealed to the European nations, as well as Russia to restore his war-ravaged country after the cessation of hostilities. In a recorded video address, at a meeting of executive directors, the Ukrainian leader asserted that while Kyiv "fights for the whole of Europe,” it becomes an obligation on part of the EU and Russia to partake in the rebuilding efforts and restoration of Ukraine after there’s a negotiation on reaching a ceasefire.

“Speaking about the restoration of Ukraine and who should do it, I think that Russia should [participate in this],” said Ukraine’s Zelenskyy on Tuesday. 

Furthermore, Zelenskyy stressed that the whole of Europe should understand his appeal and “help restore our country, our industry, and, of course, come to our market.”The embattled leader also categorically iterated that "Russia must pay reparations to Ukraine." "We clearly understand this," said Zelenskyy,  as he iterated that Kyiv "receives appropriate signals from Western countries." Ukraine’s leader had earlier informed that his country would need an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars in financial support for restoration after the end of the hostilities.

'We restore electricity, communications, we restore water supply..'

As Russian troops have been shelling and bombing the Ukrainian territory, causing widespread destruction to the cities’ infrastructure, Zelenskyy told World Bank that there needs to be immediate assistance to do everything to restore normal life in Ukrainian cities, especially the most heavily bombed Kharkiv. “We restore electricity, communications, we restore the water supply. We restore traffic, set up temporary bridges across rivers instead of destroyed ones. We return social and administrative services. We carry out demining,” the Ukrainian leader stated. He furthermore said that the authorities have been neutralizing thousands of explosives on daily basis. 

“They [Russian troops] mined even ordinary people's homes,” Zelesnkyy had said, adding that the home appliances that they failed to steal and take away. Cars. Basements. They even mined agricultural fields…many educational institutions were destroyed.” 

According to President Zelenskyy, just the first loss analysis since the war ensued,  yielded approximately $ 550 billion in losses. He asserted that the only way to halt the damage is by “stopping the war now and liberating our territory from Russian invaders.”