UK set to host Ukrainian representatives to discuss reconstruction of war-hit cities

The UK will welcome representatives and business leaders from Ukraine to discuss how British companies can help rebuild key infrastructure in Kyiv. It has been 114 days since Russia started invasion of Ukraine and since then Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's troops have obliterated over 200 heritage sites, annihilated multiple cities and killed hundreds of civilians. On Thursday, British trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that she will seek to promote collaboration between British companies dealing with energy, infrastructure, transportation and Ukrainian organisations in order to help repair and reconstruct destroyed infrastructure. 

It is pertinent to note that the support provided would form a part of the British resolution to provide a combined economic, humanitarian and military support package worth around US$ 3 billion. According to the Boris Johnson government, the trade secretary is also poised to announce trade remedy measures like relocating markets designated to Russian and Belarusian manufacturers to countries like Ukraine. Notably, the European Union- from which the UK made an exit two years back has also offered to help rebuild the war-torn country. 

European countries support Ukraine 

This comes hours after leaders of Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, who were in Kyiv to take a closer look at Russia's brutal aggression, vowed their support for Ukraine's EU membership application. After taking the "glimpse" of the war in Ukraine's national capital, Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazovic met with embattled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. According to the joint statement released by the three countries, they expressed displeasure over the Russian head's judgment to invade Ukraine with such a massive loss of civilians and soldiers battling since the onset of the war.

Meanwhile, Russia's attempt to salvage a war gone awry has intensified.  In the latest development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told BBC that his country is not "squeaky clean and not ashamed" of its actions. On the ground, Russian troops have shifted the centre of their offensive to Severodonetsk in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). The Ukrainian Governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, told The Associated Press that heavy fighting in Severodonetsk continues today as well. Separatists-held Luhansk and Donetsk regions constitute the Donbas region. 

(Image: AP)