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

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the U.S. commitment to Kyiv’s defense.

Premier Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were opening the meeting Thursday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv.

Italian organizers said 100 official delegations were attending and 40 international organizations and development banks. But there are 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.

The conference will pair investors with Ukrainian counterparts

The aim of the conference is to pair international investors with Ukrainian counterparts to meet, talk and hammer out joint partnerships in hopes of not just rebuilding Ukraine, during and after the war, but modernizing it and helping it achieve the necessary reforms for admission into the European Union.

“It could feel a bit counterintuitive to start speaking about reconstruction when there is a war raging and nearly daily attacks on civilians, but it’s not. It’s actually an urgent priority,” said Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti, senior research fellow at the Rome-based Institute for Studies of International Politics, or ISPI.

It’s the 4th such meeting recovery

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. The Berlin conference elaborated four main pillars that are continuing in Rome to focus on business, human capital, local and regional issues, and the necessary reforms for EU admission.

“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 Ambrosetti.

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.

This time, Ukraine’s partners are focusing on industries and issues

Alexander Temerko, a Ukrainian-British businessman, said 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.”

The former U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations, Kurt Volker, said Meloni could make the conference a success if she endorses a coordinating agency to provide follow-up that would give “focused political leadership” behind Ukraine’s recovery.

“If there is a sustainable ceasefire, Ukraine can be expected to experience double-digit economic growth. And yet a high-level focus on economic development is still lacking,” Volker wrote for the Center for European Policy Analysis.

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 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, 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.

“Don’t just watch Russia terrorize people in Ukraine. Act now to defund Russia’s war machine,” Sybiha wrote.

Coalition’s success hinges on US backup

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.

Trump on Monday said 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.