The IMF has announced a series of additional financial support plans for Ukraine, raising the level of checks against Russia. As China and Russia are closely attached, they seem to be speeding up the pace of support for Ukraine in response.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a statementstatement on the 21st (local time) and announced that it would provide Ukraine with a loan program worth 15.6 billion dollars over the next four years. This is the first time in the IMF’s 77-year history that a country at war has been given regular loans. To this end, the IMF’s board of directors earlier approved changes to lending rules on the 17th and allowed them to help “a country in exceptionally high uncertainty.” “We expect a gradual economic recovery in the future as we recover serious damage to major infrastructure,” the statement said. According to Reuters, the IMF will finalize its agreement with the Ukrainian government with the approval of its board of directors within a few weeks.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also made a surprise visit to Ukraine on the same day to announce his financial support plan. Prime Minister Kishida said he would support Ukraine until peace is restored, adding $500 million to the $7.1 billion he had originally promised. Japan plans to provide $30 million worth of non-lethal equipment through NATO funds and provide $470 million free of charge to the energy sector. Prime Minister Kishida stopped by the second car where a large-scale massacre of civilians took place following the capital, Kyiv. It is the first time since World War II that a Japanese prime minister has visited a country in battle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to attend the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.