Ukraine: G7 countries should seize Russian assets to fund rebuilding effort

Group of 7 nations should seize Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine to help the country's rebuilding effort, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters Friday.

Driving the news: The cost of the ongoing war has already topped $94 billion worth of direct damage to civilian and military infrastructure in Ukraine and leeched hundreds of billions of dollars from the country's economy.

• U.S., European and Ukrainian officials have highlighted the need to begin assembling a "Marshall Plan for Ukraine" to reconstruct the country, writes Axios' Zach Basu.

What they're saying: "Today I asked G7 countries to adopt legislation and put in place all necessary procedures needed to seize Russian sovereign assets and give them to Ukraine," Kuleba said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Germany, Reuters reported.

• "Give them to Ukraine, for Ukraine to use this money to rebuild our country, to reconstruct our country, after all the damage inflicted on us," he added.
• "Russia must pay—politically, economically, but also financially."

The big picture: Since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and European countries have already seized millions of dollars in assets from wealthy Russians with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

• Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested using seized Russian assets to help fund the reconstruction of Ukraine.
• The Biden administration last month unveiled a proposed legislative package that would allow the federal government to sell these seized assets and use the proceeds for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Go deeper... Live updates: Russian invasion of Ukraine