Physical damage to Ukraine hits $60bn, says World Bank

Mr Zelenskyy says Ukraine needs $7bn a month to cover economic loss caused by Russia's invasion

A resident searches for belongings in an apartment building destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on April 5. AP

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Damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure from Russia's invasion has reached about $60 billion and will rise further as the war continues, World Bank President David Malpass said on Thursday.

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

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an online address to the conference, outlined far bigger costs and financing needs.

He told those attending that Ukraine needed $7 billion a month to make up for economic loss caused by Russia's invasion of his country.

"And we will need hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild all this later," Mr Zelenskyy said.

He said the global community should exclude Russia immediately from international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and others.

And Mr Zelenskyy said that all countries "must immediately be prepared to break up all relations with Russia".

A Ukrainian refugee clings to her child, unable to hold back the despair of upheaval as she arrives at the Romanian border. The number of Ukrainian refugees who have fled has exceeded the 5 million mark as the war enters its ninth week, UN data has indicated. AFP

Children who fled the war take a break at a railway station in Bucharest, Romania, a country which has taken in more than 757,000 Ukrainian refugees to date. AFP

A woman gives a wave after crossing the border from Ukraine into Medyka, Poland. Reuters

An Ukrainian refugee woman sews in Strasbourg, France, as part of a job scheme for people who have fled the war with Russia. AFP

A giant photograph of a young refugee is unveiled as part of an art installation by French contemporary artist JR to show solidarity with Ukraine, in Venice, Italy. Reuters

Vladimir and Avigeja Radionow with Kseniia Temcheniuk, who fled war-torn Ukraine, prepare an Easter basket at a cultural centre in Halle, Germany. Getty Images

Refugees at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, a country which has to date taken in more than 2,825,000 people from Ukraine. AP Photo

Oleksii Yeromin hugs a Ukrainian refugee at the US-Mexico border. AFP

A volunteer covers a refugee with a blanket as she queues at the border crossing in south-eastern Poland. AP Photo

The conference on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings included international finance officials, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who earlier said the US would double its direct non-military aid pledge to $1bn.

Mr Zelenskyy called for countries that have imposed sanctions and freezes on Russian assets to use that money to help rebuild Ukraine after the war and pay for losses suffered by other countries.

Ms Yellen said Russia should shoulder some of Ukraine's rebuilding costs.

"It’s clear that the rebuilding costs, ultimately, in Ukraine are going to be enormous," she said.

Looking "to Russia one way or another to help provide some of what’s necessary for Ukraine to build is something I think we ought to be pursuing".

But she said that using seized Russian central bank reserves in the US to rebuild Ukraine would be a "significant step" that would need discussions and agreement with international partners.

"It's one that you would carefully need to think through the consequences of," Ms Yellen said. "I wouldn't want to do so lightly."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who attended the conference in person, said Ukraine's GDP could decline by 30 to 50 per cent, with direct and indirect losses of $560bn so far.

That total is more than three times the size of Ukraine's economy, at $155.5bn in 2020, World Bank data shows.

"If we do not stop this war together, the losses will increase dramatically," Mr Shmyhal said.

He said Ukraine would need a rebuilding plan similar to the post-Second World War Marshall Plan that helped to rebuild a war-ravaged Europe.