World Bank Delegation to Ukraine Reflects on Recent Visit

While touring a bomb shelter in Kyiv was a scheduled part of Anna Bjerde's visit to Ukraine earlier this month, spending hours in that bomb shelter shortly upon arrival waiting for the shelling to stop was not.

Anna Bjerde, Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, together with Arup Banerji, Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe, Koen Davidse, Executive Director, and Roman Kachur, Alternate Executive Director, were in Ukraine in mid-November to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other members of the government to reiterate the Bank's support and express solidarity with the people of Ukraine. This was the highest World Bank delegation to visit Ukraine since the war began and came on the heels of Arup's recent visit.

"We had to take shelter for several hours. It was quite unsettling, and we only experienced it for a short period of time," Anna Bjerde, Vice President for Europe and Central Asia said. "However, this is nothing compared to what our counterparts and the people of Ukraine have to endure every day."

"It's important to be here to see the type of damage this war has caused because we're moving forward now with urgent repair projects and starting to plan for the reconstruction of infrastructure and services across the country," Anna said.

In addition to Kyiv, they visited Bucha and Irpin, two towns that suffered immensely early on in the war.

"I was most impressed by the local government and community members for their commitment to restore livability in their cities and to also provide for support to survivors of victims brutally killed," Anna remarked.

Ukraine's needs are staggering.

The Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) published in September—and covering the period from when the war started to June 1—estimated the country's recovery and reconstruction needs to total $349 billion. These needs have continued to rise as the war continues, and have escalated since the attacks on civil infrastructure in the past month.

Since the war started, the Bank's efforts have focused on supporting continuity of essential services such as pensions, healthcare, education, and social protection through the Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance in Ukraine (PEACE) Project, which aims to help the government meet urgent budget needs and continue to function.

"The World Bank will be there, in partnership with others, to help Ukraine's recovery, even as the conflict is still ongoing," said Koen. "The Bank is a long-term partner of Ukraine and has been involved in the country's recovery from the conflict since day one. The Bank was supporting the budget of the Ukrainian government within 10 days."

More than 50% of all economic aid that has gone to Ukraine since the war started, has gone through the World Bank. A total of $11.4 billion, much of this is the large package of grant support by the US to Ukraine, has been channeled and disbursed through the World Bank.

In addition to staff still in the country, the evacuated country team as well as other staff across the World Bank Group have been working hard to deliver support to the country.

Now the World Bank is also moving forward with urgent repair projects to restore critical infrastructure and health services and to support activation of the economy.

During the visit, World Bank and Ukrainian officials discussed the most immediate projects to focus on, including electricity and transport.

Almost half of Ukraine's electricity network has been damaged by missiles and drones. "We witnessed this first-hand, as there is large scale rationing of services throughout the country," Anna said.

"We were all shocked by the destruction that we have seen. We talked to the authorities of towns we visited and what we heard was that we cannot delay the recovery," said Roman.

Other priority areas include transport and healthcare services. Three projects for electricity, transport and health are slated to be approved before the end of December. These projects will be approved under the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF) and will serve as a coordinated financing and support mechanism focused on operational delivery. It will operate under the overarching Multi-Donor Resources for Institutions and Infrastructure (MRII - МРІЇ) for Ukraine Facility, which will form part of broader international support to Ukraine.

"It's going to be tough winter because core electricity infrastructure across much of Ukraine has been destroyed over the last few weeks," said Arup. "The World Bank will continue to work intensively with the Government of Ukraine to restore and repair the infrastructure needed to ensure that the difficult months to come will be as bearable as possible for Ukraine's people."

So far, as of November 22, the World Bank has mobilized around $17.8 billion in financial support to Ukraine. 

"This war must come to an end," Anna said. "But it's important for us to be here even during these very difficult times."

"I look forward to returning to Ukraine soon again. At that time, I hope that this war will have ended and that we will be working on a longer-term recovery of this country. Over the medium term, we will support Ukraine in its reform path as it's very important to move Ukraine toward a modernized and competitive economy," Anna concluded.