Rishi Sunak calls on companies to support Ukraine

(Patria) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will ask entrepreneurs and companies to increase investment in Ukraine at next week's conference to help it rebuild after the Russian invasion, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will appear virtually at the two-day event starting on Wednesday in London, organizers said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to speak, as is European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.

“Ukraine’s courage on the battlefield must be matched by the private sector’s vision to help the country rebuild and recover,” Sunak will say, according to the text of his speech released by his office on Saturday.

“A financially stronger, technologically advanced Ukraine will bolster its ability to push Russia back behind its borders,” Sunak will tell dignitaries and company chiefs at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, the statement said.

The United Kingdom and other Western allies have given the Kyiv government billions of dollars in aid and weapons since Russia sent its troops across the border on February 24 last year.

A new digital platform will be launched to connect Ukrainian and international companies to help collaboration, the Downing Street statement said. Another tech project will help Ukrainian and British entrepreneurs and businesses collaborate, and a $13 million fund will support low-carbon energy ideas in Ukraine, it added.