Italy is making available a new 140 million euros of urgent support to Ukraine for critical infrastructure, its railways, health and agribusiness sector and humanitarian sectors , including demining, foreign minister Antonio Tajani announced on Tuesday.
A total 45 million euros of the new aid package will support the reconstruction of Ukraine's war-damaged southern port city Odessa , Tajani said in an opening address to the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in Berlin taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Italy and Ukraine's governments will on Tuesday sign a cooperation memorandum on rebuilding Odessa, where dozens of historic monuments were badly damaged by Russian missiles last July, including the Transfiguration Cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage site.
During a visit to Kiev last October, Tajani and Ukraine's premier Denys Shmyhal agreed Italy would play key role in cooperating with the country's authorities to rebuild Odessa and the surrounding region after the war with Russia that began when it invaded the former Soviet republic in February 2022.
The Ukraine Reconstruction Conference aims to mobilise international business support and investment for Ukraine. Italy will host the event next year.
