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total. The western financial aid has been dogged by bureaucratic delays, fuelled by fears that any cash sent to Kyiv will just be stolen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been working hard to reassure the west that he has corruption under control. The president launched a purge of the security services (SBU) last week and over the weekend it was revealed that he will strip oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky of his citizenship, opening the way to his arrest for fraud and extradition to the US where he is being investigated for money laundering on a massive scale. Kolomoisky has operated with impunity in Ukraine since he returned to the country following Zelenskiy’s election in April 2019 and the president’s move against him is designed to signal that Bankova is now getting tough with the oligarchs, say experts.
Zelenskiy is hoping to unblock more aid from the west. Amongst the donors the US has only sent 41% of the total $9.7bn promised, Canada 89% of $1.3bn, and the UK 52% of $1.1bn. All together the western donors have promised $28.8bn of which a total of 44% has arrived or $12.7bn, of which $7.2bn is loans and $5.5bn is grants that don’t have to be repaid. $16bn remains undistributed (graphic).
Ukraine is desperate need of funding as the economy teeters on the edge of a financial and balance of payments crisis. The NBU has already been forced to put in a crushing rate hike to 25% on June 2 and followed up last week with a 25% devaluation of the currency on July 21.
15 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com