Most eyes are on the fighting in the Donbas as Ukraine’s counteroffensive appears to get under way. But far from the front lines, a vital discussion is taking place in Western capitals: What will it take to rebuild Ukraine when the war is finally over?
According to most estimates, Russia has already inflicted an estimated $400 billion in damages on Ukraine, which is twice the country’s GDP in 2021. And that figure is only going to rise every day the war continues, a fact starkly illustrated by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in eastern Ukraine this week.
This has all sparked serious and high-level discussions about establishing a Marshall Plan to rebuild Ukraine after the war. But where is all that money going to come from? How is it going to be distributed? And what safeguards will be attached to it to prevent corruption?
On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Josh Rudolph, a senior fellow and head of malign finance at the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy and co-author of the recently published report “Toward a Marshall Plan for Ukraine”, and veteran journalist Casey Michel, author of the book American Kleptocracy and the recently published article “Make Russia Pay”.
