Ukraine seeks aid for stricken economy 

KYIV – Ukrainian leaders are pleading for cash to rebuild an economy battered by a year of war, but said drawing investors to a country where shells are still booming is a struggle. “Getting foreign investors to come to a country that has a war with a nuclear-powered state is a very complicated task,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an investor conference in Kyiv on April 28. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is providing Ukraine with $17.5 billion in loans over four years. But it estimates the country needs $40 billion to avoid financial collapse, and much of the gap must be filled by private investors. “My government is out of tools to boost investment and economic growth. Please, invest in Ukraine,” Mr. Yatsenyuk urged the financiers at the conference. In a video message, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden said that rooting out rampant corruption will be critical to the success of Ukraine’s economy, adding that Russia is most fearful of a Ukraine that can’t be bribed or coerced. He also said sanctions were necessary to keep pressure on Moscow, which he said had “occupied” Ukrainian territory and sent troops, mercenaries, tanks, and missiles to eastern Ukraine. Mr. Biden said “the Russian aggression” had caused a huge humanitarian disaster in which some 2 million Ukrainians had left their homes. President Petro Poroshenko told the conference the threat of war is “hanging over” the country as ceasefire violations continue in eastern Ukraine. He said the country needs aid and “solidarity” to prevent war from “erupting” and to resolve the situation in the Donbas region where Russian-backed separatists control territory. Mr. Poroshenko’s comments came as military officials said the separatists had resumed using rocket launchers that are banned under a February cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Interfax)