Germany plans to provide Ukraine with an additional €381 million ($416 million) in humanitarian support this year, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

This will be used, for example, to provide generators, food and tents, she said. Since the beginning of the Russian war in February 2022, German aid to Kiev has amounted to €16.8 billion.

In the long term, however, money is not enough, the foreign minister added. “We are helping Ukraine to invest in renewable energies and energy efficiency,” she said.

In this way, she said, Ukraine’s reconstruction could be shaped in a green and thus lasting and sustainable way.

Earlier at the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $1.3 billion in additional funding for Ukraine, of which $520 million alone is earmarked for repairing Ukraine’s energy grid to make it cleaner and more resilient, the Democratic politician said.

Together with energy market reforms, this could make Ukraine a major energy exporter, Mr Blinken said.

(dpa/NAN)