Ukraine reconstruction conference opens as fighting still rages there

The buildings and homes of 3.5 million Ukrainians were damaged or destroyed during the war.

Here, a resident of Bakhmout, in the Donetsk region, after the bombing of her house, June 26, 2022. AP - Efrem Lukatsky

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1 min

Monday, July 4 opens in Lugano, Switzerland, the Conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine, for two days, a meeting that has taken place for several years between kyiv and its allies.

While we usually talk about reforms and the fight against corruption, the war launched by Russia has changed the agenda of the meeting, now focused on rebuilding the country and its economy devastated by four months of fighting.

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With our correspondent in Geneva,

Talking about rebuilding Ukraine, even as

on, is not obvious.

And yet, the conference must make it possible to draw a roadmap to raise the country.

Even if we do not know when this will be possible,

is there: the buildings and houses of 3.5 million Ukrainians have been damaged or destroyed, and almost half of the country is contaminated by explosives, in particular.

However, the meeting should not turn into a conference of donors: the problem is less to obtain money for Ukraine than to translate this generosity into concrete actions.

Because the country and its economy have always been

.

Among the personalities present in Lugano, no head of state is planned, but the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will be there.

A time announced, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has finally dispatched his Prime Minister: Denys Schmygal will lead the largest delegation of Ukrainian officials to leave the country since the start of the war with Russia.

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• Ukraine

• Swiss

• Humanitarian

• Russia