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DPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, delivers a video speech at the International Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano. Christophe Licoppe/European Commission/dpa

Ukraine wants to use the Russian assets seized as a result of Western sanctions to finance the country's reconstruction, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

“Russia's frozen assets according to various estimates range from $300 to $500 billion,” Shmyhal told an international conference of potential donors in the Swiss town of Lugano.

“Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war, they caused this massive destruction, and they should be held accountable for it,” he added. Ukraine needs an estimated $750 billion, Shmyhal said.

However, experts have cautioned that confiscating Russian assets in this way is legally difficult.