Ukraine needs to be restored before the end of hostilities with Russia, Danish Ambassador to Ukraine Ole Egberg Mikkelsen said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
“Some people are saying, okay, reconstruction, that’s fine, but we have to wait for peace. Once there is peace, then we need a big conference and a big plan. We say, no, we cannot wait for that. We have to start now,” he said.
The ambassador emphasized that Ukraine’s recovery cannot wait for the war’s end.
“This is, I think, the lesson learned in Mykolaiv that it’s good to start while the war is still ongoing because that creates hope, that one day this nightmare will be over and there will be somebody who will help us. And this has, I think, created some optimism. We can see that people are returning to Mykolaiv,” Mikkelsen said.
He noted that the mayor of one of the towns where Denmark helped a local factory said that if the company did not work, there was nothing to do in the town.
now that factory is working. And I can see whenever I go that there is a car outside many of the houses, I can see women coming down the street with a stroller and the school has reopened. It’s very tangible, it’s very concrete, it’s something that makes a difference and that’s what we want to do. We want to make a difference now, not when there is peace,” the ambassador said.
At the same time, on behalf of Denmark, he called on countries and financial institutions not to wait for the end of the war in Ukraine, but to “do something now.”
