Ukraine expects $3.5 billion fund for US weapons, Zelenskyy says

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain its more than three-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

The financial arrangement known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.

“We received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. ”We will receive additional money in October. I think we will have somewhere around $3.5-3.6 billion.”

Zelenskyy declined to provide details of what weapons the first shipments would include, but said that they would definitely contain missiles for Patriot air defense missile systems and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems , or HIMARS.

An end to the war appears no closer, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts .

The Patriot systems are vital to defend against Russian missile attacks. The HIMARS systems have significantly bolstered the Ukrainian military’s precision-strike capability.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for peace talks, telling reporters on Wednesday that “we remain open for negotiations and prefer to settle the Ukrainian crisis by political and diplomatic means.”

However, Moscow has raised objections about key proposals and negotiations haven’t moved forward.

The latest Russian overnight aerial attacks caused disruption to Ukrainian rail and power services, officials said Wednesday. In addition, a Russian glide bomb struck a town in the southern Kherson region of Ukraine, wounding three women and a 3-year-old girl, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-Ukraine fund devised to spur investments in the Ukrainian mineral sector is set to launch with $150 million of seed capital, senior Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation agency will commit $75 million to the fund, with Ukraine matching that contribution, Ukrainian Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev said.

“This is enough to launch the first significant investments,” Sobolev said, describing the fund as a “beacon” that could draw additional support from other international institutions.

The U.S.-Ukraine deal on developing the Ukrainian mineral sector was signed in April. It gives the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian mining projects and is meant to spur reconstruction and enable continued military aid to Ukraine from the U.S.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said that the fund would initially focus on energy, infrastructure and critical mineral projects, with a goal of financing three projects by the end of 2026.

Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov contributed to this report.

乌克兰基辅——乌克兰总统泽连斯基周三表示，乌克兰预计到下个月将有约 35 亿美元资金用于从美国购买武器，以帮助其维持三年多来对抗俄罗斯全面入侵的斗争。

这项名为“优先乌克兰需求清单”（PURL）的财务安排，汇集了除美国以外的北约成员国的捐款，用于购买美国的武器、弹药和装备。

泽连斯基在基辅与来访的欧洲议会议长罗伯塔·梅措拉举行的联合新闻发布会上表示：“我们从合作伙伴那里获得了超过20亿美元的专项资金，用于PURL项目。我们将在10月份收到更多资金。我认为届时资金总额将在35亿至36亿美元之间。”

泽连斯基拒绝透露首批武器的具体细节，但他表示，其中肯定包含爱国者防空导弹系统的导弹和高机动性火箭炮系统（HIMARS）的弹药。

尽管美国主导的和平努力已持续数月，但战争似乎仍未结束。

爱国者导弹系统对于防御俄罗斯导弹袭击至关重要。HIMARS导弹系统显著增强了乌克兰军队的精确打击能力。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫周三向记者重申了俄罗斯对和平谈判的意愿，称“我们仍然愿意进行谈判，并倾向于通过政治和外交手段解决乌克兰危机”。

然而，莫斯科对一些关键提议提出了异议，谈判没有取得进展。

官员周三表示，俄罗斯最新一轮夜间空袭导致乌克兰铁路和电力服务中断。此外，乌克兰赫尔松州州长奥列克桑德·普罗库金称，一枚俄罗斯滑翔炸弹击中了乌克兰南部赫尔松州的一个城镇，造成三名妇女和一名3岁女童受伤。

与此同时，乌克兰高级官员周三表示，一项旨在刺激对乌克兰矿业领域投资的美乌基金即将启动，启动资金为 1.5 亿美元。

乌克兰经济部长奥列克西·索博列夫表示，美国国际开发金融公司将向该基金注资7500万美元，乌克兰也将提供同等数额的资金。

索博列夫表示：“这足以启动首批重大投资”，并将该基金描述为“灯塔”，可能会吸引其他国际机构的额外支持。

美国与乌克兰于4月签署了关于开发乌克兰矿产行业的协议。该协议赋予美国优先参与乌克兰新矿业项目的权利，旨在促进乌克兰的重建，并确保美国能够继续向乌克兰提供军事援助。

总理尤利娅·斯维里登科表示，该基金最初将重点关注能源、基础设施和关键矿产项目，目标是在 2026 年底前为三个项目提供资金。

Hanna Arhirova 和 Illia Novikov 对本报道亦有贡献。