The United States has pledged $700 million to help Ukraine upgrade its ports, railways and other elements of its transport infrastructure to help the economy recovery from the impact of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov said.
"We have to modernize Ukrainian checkpoints, ports and railway. This will improve logistics and increase export capacity. The United States plans to provide almost $700 million for this," Kubrakov said in a Facebook post. He offered no further details of the pledge.
He made the announcement after meeting with Penny Pritzker, the US special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine, earlier in the week.
He said upgrading Ukrainian export logistics and transport infrastructure is the first common goal of his government and the US. The energy sector is the second, followed by municipal infrastructure, mining and agriculture, he added.
Pritzker, who served as US commerce secretary in the administration of former President Barack Obama, visited Kyiv this week on her first official visit to Ukraine since she was appointed to her current post.
