kyiv, Ukraine – Ukraine estimates that there will be around 3.5 billion dollars for next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain their struggle of more than three years against the total invasion of Russia, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
The financial arrangement known as the list of priority requirements of Ukraine (known as Purl for the acronym in English of Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) groups contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to buy American weapons, ammunition and teams.
“We have received more than 2,000 million dollars from our partners specifically for the Purl program,” Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference in kyiv with the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who was visiting. “We will receive additional money in October. I think we will have around 3,500-3.6 billion dollars.”
Zelenskyy refused to provide details about which weapons would include the first shipments, but said that missiles would definitely contain patriotic defense systems and ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, or Himars.
The end of the war does not seem closer, despite months of peace efforts led by the United States.
Patriot systems are vital to defend themselves against Russian missile attacks. Himars systems have significantly reinforced the precision attack capacity of the Ukrainian army.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Russia’s willingness for peace conversations, telling journalists on Wednesday that “we are still open to negotiations and prefer to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by political and diplomatic means.”
However, Moscow has opposed several proposals and negotiations have not advanced.
The latest night -Russian air attacks caused interruptions in the railway and electrical services of Ukraine, officials reported Wednesday. In addition, a Russian planning bomb hit a city in the southern region of Jersón in Ukraine, wounding three women and a three -year -old girl, said Regional Chief Oreksandr Prokudin.
Meanwhile, a United States-Ukraine fund designed to boost investments in the Ukrainian mineral sector is ready to launch with 150 million dollars of initial capital, said Ukrainian officials on Wednesday.
The United States International Development Financial Corporation agency will compromise $ 75 million to the Fund, with Ukraine matching that contribution, said Ukrainian Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev.
“This is enough to launch the first significant investments,” said Sobolev, describing the fund as a “lighthouse” that could attract additional support from other international institutions.
The United States-Ukraine Agreement on the development of the Ukrainian mineral sector was signed in April. It gives the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian mining projects and is intended to boost reconstruction and allow continuous military aid to Ukraine from the United States.
Prime Minister Yuliia Svydenko stressed that the fund would initially focus on energy, infrastructure and critical mineral projects, with the aim of financing three projects by the end of 2026.
