Italy opens Ukraine rebuilding conference as doubts of US defense help remain

ROME -- European leaders urged private business and equity on Thursday to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war, as they opened an annual recovery conference with announcements of a new equity fund and public-private partnerships amid uncertainties of the U.S. commitment to Kyiv’s defense.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kicked off the proceedings in Rome as Russia pounded Ukraine’s capital with another major missile and drone attack overnight in some of the heaviest attacks on Kyiv in the more than three-year war.

The conference is expected to finalize individual deals of guarantees and grants to unlock more than 10 billion euros (around $12 billion) in investments, Meloni said. The European Commission, for its part, announced the creation of the largest equity fund to date to support Ukraine, the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.

“The message we want to send today to businesses is: Don’t be afraid to invest to build and rebuild Ukraine,” Meloni told the gathering of business, political and development representatives. “The reconstruction of Ukraine is not a risk. It’s an investment in a nation that has shown more resilience than any other.”

Zelenskyy, for his part, thanked those countries and companies that have already invested and warned that only friends would be welcome to rebuild: “We will only welcome true partners, those who are not helping Russia continue this war,” he said, without naming specific nations

He repeated his call for Russia’s frozen assets, and not just the interest, to be used, and called again for a Marshall Plan-style coordinated reconstruction effort.

Italian organizers said 100 official delegations were attending and 40 international organizations and development banks. But there were also 2,000 businesses, civil society and local Ukrainian governments sending representatives. They are participating in a trade fair, complete with booths, on the grounds of the ministerial-level meeting at Rome's funky new “Cloud” conference center in the Fascist-era EUR neighborhood.

It’s the fourth such conference on Ukraine’s recovery, with earlier editions in Lugano, Switzerland in 2022, London in 2023 and Berlin last year.

“It’s basically a platform where a lot of businesses, European businesses and Ukrainian businesses, meet up and network, where you can actually see this public-private partnership in action, because obviously public money is not enough to undertake this gigantic effort of restructuring a country,” said Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti, senior research fellow at the Rome-based Institute for Studies of International Politics, or ISPI.

The World Bank Group, European Commission and the United Nations have estimated that Ukraine’s recovery after more than three years of war will cost $524 billion (€506 billion) over the next decade.

Alexander Temerko, a Ukrainian-British businessman, said that the Rome conference was different from its predecessors, because it is focused on specific industries and issues, not just vague talk about the need to rebuild. The program includes practical workshops on such topics as “de-risking” investment, and panel discussions on investing in Ukraine's rare earth minerals, pharmaceutical and domestic defense industries.

“This is the first conference which is considering particularly projects in the energy sector, the mining sector, the metallurgical sector, the infrastructure sector, the transport sector, which need to be restored in Ukraine and during the war especially,” he said. “That is the special particularity of this conference.”

In addition to Meloni and Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, as well as economy and or foreign ministers from other European countries are coming.

French President Emmanuel Macron remained in Britain with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but they and several of the participants of the Rome conference will participate in a videoconference call Thursday of the “coalition of the willing.” These include countries willing to deploy troops to Ukraine to police any future peace agreement with Russia.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, was in Rome and met with Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Zelenskyy, who also met with Pope Leo XIV, planned talks with other U.S. officials to discuss the expected adoption of a new U.S. sanctions package, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Wednesday in a statement on Telegram.

It was a reference to a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who are both in Rome, calling in part for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. The move would have huge ramifications for China and India, two economic behemoths that buy Russian oil.

The success of the coalition of the willing's future operation hinges on U.S. backup with airpower or other military assistance, but the Trump administration has made no public commitment to provide support. And even current U.S. military support to Ukraine is in question.

On Monday, Trump said that the U.S. would have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after Washington paused critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv amid uncertainty over the U.S. administration’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense. Trump’s announcement came after he privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing a pause in some deliveries last week, a move that he felt wasn’t properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Merz issued an impassioned plea to Washington in his opening remarks.

“Stay with us and stay with the Europeans," he said. We are on the same page and we are looking for a stable political order in this world.”