Andrea Shalal, David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters). -Russia’s conflict in Ukraine “horrified” World Bank shareholders. It will also have long-lasting consequences for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s position on the international stage, the head of the global lender said Friday.

David Malpass (President of World Bank) stated that China’s reactions to the war in Afghanistan and Western sanctions against Moscow were important factors in how Russia will develop its future trade relations.

Malpass spoke out praising Ukraine’s “global outpouring for it” and referring to “a clear focus on Putin as the cause of the problem.”

While he listed other Russian invasions such as of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia (both 1968) and Georgia (2008), as well the annexation and occupation of Crimea, Ukraine, in 2014, he stated that this war was much larger.

He said, “This is an ordinal magnitude worse in terms decimation and the deaths occurring. So I think there will have lasting consequences.”

SPEEDING FUNDS FOR UKRAINE

Malpass stated that he will speak to Ukrainian President Vododymyr Zilenskiy on Friday. He also plans to present to the World Bank board on Friday, a loan package to Ukraine. It has been expanded by country contributions. The plan has been coordinated to “people who are in bunkers” in Ukraine.

Reuters reports that Thursday’s package has risen to 460million euros (or 503 million dollars). Malpass stated that the objective was to transfer the funds to Ukraine by next week.

Malpass was a former U.S. Treasury Official and said that funding would be provided for Ukraine “for the payment of the continuing – or call it wareffort – the ongoing developmental effort and the medicines efforts that they as governments need to make.”

Russia’s financial isolation has intensified as Friday saw the London Stock Exchange suspend trading of its last Russian securities, and Europe and the United States continued financial sanctions against Russia.

Malpass claimed that Russia was suffering from a raft of sanctions, which had an impact on its interactions with the financial market. However, it raised concerns about China’s dependency and caused a shock in supply to global energy and food markets.

China, which is the largest shareholder in World Bank, must be “horrified by where this is evolving,” Malpass added. “That’ll become an important issue in global trade development.” The sanctions have been in place and they are buying oil from Russia. But, can these companies still be part of the global system if Russia is so involved? “We’ll see what happens.”