Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his readiness to enter into direct peace talks with Ukraine, which are to begin on 15 May in Istanbul. The US and the EU anticipate Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire and halt attacks on critical infrastructure. The Union has already announced that, in the event of refusal, it will tighten sanctions. Euro MP PiS Arkadiusz Mularczyk calls for greater EU determination to usage frozen Russian assets and support in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
– The European Union has many instruments that it can support and should support Ukraine. Undoubtedly this political, moral, legal support is highly important. But in order to make a fair, just peace after the end of the war, it is crucial to arrange a relation with Russia so that it pays compensation and reparations for Ukraine for the consequences of war harm and failure – evaluates in an interview with Newseria Arkadiusz Mularczyk.
As calculated by the government of Ukraine, the planet Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations in a study published 3 years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as at 31 December 2024 the estimated full cost of reconstruction of Ukraine will be $524 billion. The biggest needs are in the housing sector (nearly €81 billion), transport (nearly €75 billion), energy and mining (nearly €66 billion), trade and manufacture (over €62 billion) and agriculture (over €53 billion).
As the Euro MP emphasises, financial losses are not all. During the 3 years of the war in Ukraine, about 12.5 1000 civilians were killed, including over 620 children. About 20,000 children were forcibly deported to Russia, Belarus or occupied territories. In its resolution of 8 May, the European Parliament powerfully condemned the harm to Ukrainian children, including murders, forced displacement and deportations, illegal adoptions, sexual abuse, forced rusification and militarisation. He besides called on the EU to hold the guilty liable and to punish those active in these crimes. The Europarlamentarians stressed that any real peace agreement must supply for the repatriation of these children and the work of those liable for forced displacement and deportation.
The European Commission reports that 44% of Ukrainian children show signs of PTSD. According to the UN estimates in 2024, 14.6 million Ukrainians, or almost 40% of the country's population, needed humanitarian assistance and this condition persisted this year. These needs concern many aspects, including access to water, hygiene measures, wellness services and medicines or intellectual support.
– The losses are immense and will have a large impact on the future functioning of the Ukrainian state. We so believe that the European Union should show greater determination to usage frozen Russian assets and to allocate them to the creation of a reconstruction fund for Ukraine. We see that there are countries like Germany and Belgium that block specified solutions, so on the 1 hand, the European Union is talking about fair peace, but on the another hand, unfortunately we do not see decisive and clear action here - indicates Arkadius Mularczyk. – As the author of the study on Polish war losses, where our squad showed, proved how large the losses of our country were, how large the impact on the hard functioning of Poland for decades, reconstruction from destruction, disability, severe traumas that Poles survived – this is the trauma that war creates for generations.
After Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine began, western countries froze almost half of Russia's abroad exchange reserves, or EUR 300 billion. The first tranche of EUR 1.5 billion was paid in the summertime of 2024, the second tranche of EUR 2.1 billion in April of that year.
According to data from the EU Council, almost € 148 billion has been allocated to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian attack. 65% of full aid to Ukraine was provided in the form of grants or in-kind aid, 35% were granted in the form of loans on favourable terms. The Instrument for Ukraine provides for unchangeable financing in the form of grants and loans worth up to EUR 50 billion to support reconstruction, reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine from 2024 to 2027. By 8 May, EUR 25,5 billion was paid under the Instrument for Ukraine.
– Ukraine, which has been unlawfully attacked, must have our political, moral, but besides financial support. In the interests of the European Union, and in peculiar Poland and the Baltic countries, it is in the interests of an independent and sovereign Ukraine due to the fact that it is in a sense our buffer against aggressive imperial Russia. – emphasises the Euro MP of PiS. – Russia is very precise in trying to destruct various strategical targets, attacking airports, power transmission points, heat plants, energy plants. All this makes Ukraine a country that fights to survive. Today, these resources, which the Union is allocating, are mostly intended to keep the critical infrastructure of the Ukrainian state, without which it will simply not survive.
In May Ukraine and the US signed an economical partnership agreement and the creation of an American-Ukrainian Investment Fund for Reconstruction. It does not supply for circumstantial safety guarantees on the part of the US, but, in the opinion of the European Parliament, the PiS could be of crucial importance in the context of Europe's security.
– America, by signing a mineral agreement, in my opinion pushes Russian and Chinese influences out of this region of the world, from Ukraine. This fact alone is simply a certain component of the safety warrant for Ukraine, and I am convinced that US investments and safety guarantees will be active – Convinced by Arkady Mularczyk.
On 15 May, peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are to begin in Istanbul. The US and the EU anticipate Russia to agree to a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire – land, air and sea – and halt attacks on critical infrastructure. If the truce does not enter into force, the EU may impose another package of sanctions on the Russian banking and energy sectors, repression would besides affect the shadow flotation utilized to circumvent the Russian oil price limit. So far, the European Union has adopted 16 packages of sanctions against Russia.
– EU sanctions, but besides the G7 countries, the US, in the long word will de facto inhibit Russia's improvement for decades. In addition to the losses suffered by Russia on the front in the form of destruction, war and human losses, these sanctions will besides have a crucial slowdown in the Russian economy, so Russia will undoubtedly feel the negative effects of this war – measure the Euro MPs of the Law and Justice.
