Ukraine receives 495 million euros in grants from World Bank Trust Fund amid Russia War

Ukraine, on Monday, received € 495 million in grant funds from the World Bank Trust Fund. The news was announced by the press service of Ukraine's Finance Ministry. The grant includes over € 463 million from the United States, about € 20.5 million from Norway, and about € 10 million from Austria. The Finance Ministry also highlighted that the money will be used to provide priority social and humanitarian expenditures, including health care and support for internally displaced people. 

Established by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, the World Bank Trust Fund has received contributions from Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the UK, Norway, Austria, and the US. 

"No one caused so much pain to residents of Donbass as Russia": Ukraine

Mikhail Podolyak, the adviser to the head of Ukraine's President's Office, claimed that no one has caused so much pain to the residents of Donbass as Russia. "In 2019 27 civilians died in Donbas. In 2020 – 8. In 2021 – 15. After 2 months of the full-scale war, the death toll in Mariupol alone reached tens of thousands. No one has brought as much pain and grief to the residents of Donbas as Russia has brought since 2014 and especially today [sic]," he wrote in a Twitter post. 

Russia-Ukraine War update

The war between the two neighbouring countries has entered day 68, with explosions still being heard across the former Soviet nation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday, said that over 100 individuals had been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant after being stranded in the besieged city of Mariupol for many days.

 Furthermore, several units of the Belarusian Armed Forces are strengthening the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in the Brest and Gomel districts, according to Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, the spokesperson for Ukraine's Defense Ministry. According to Ukrinform, he claimed that "demonstrative and provocative measures along the state boundary with Ukraine are not ruled out in the future."

On Monday, Ukraine's Air Defense Forces claimed to have shot down another enemy drone in Odesa. This was alleged on Telegram by Maxim Marchenko, the commander of the Odessa regional military administration. "The air defense unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down an enemy drone over the Odesa district. We are working for victory," he added, Ukrinform reported.