By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters), – The spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank will see Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, and other top financial officials visit Washington next week. This was confirmed by sources who were familiar with the details.

According to sources, Shmyhal, SerhiyMarchenko, Finance Minister and KyryloShevchenko, governor of the central bank, are scheduled to meet bilaterally and participate in a Roundtable on Ukraine hosted by the World Bank.

This will be the first opportunity for Ukrainian financial officers to meet with representatives from other advanced economies after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 24.

The spillovers of Russia’s war against Ukraine will dominate the meetings next week of top economic officials of World Bank member countries and IMF members, the G7, and G20. As a result, the IMF is likely to lower its global growth forecasts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed his troops to Ukraine in what he called a “special military operations” for demilitarizing and “denazifying” Ukraine.

These are the bogus reasons for a war of aggression unprovoked by Kyiv, its Western allies. It has driven half of Ukraine’s 44million inhabitants from their homes and caused thousands of deaths.

Although Thursday’s meeting is more like a roundtable and not a donor conference, both IMF/World Bank have created separate accounts that can process and relay donations. Next week, additional pledges will likely be made.

This will allow officials to speak out about the destruction and the effects on the economy, and the future of Ukraine’s financial and banking sector.

One source said that without support, reconstruction will not be possible in the future.

The World Bank did not immediately comment.

David Malpass (World Bank President) stated that the bank is preparing $1.5 billion in support for Ukraine at an event held this week in Warsaw.

The IMF executive board has approved the creation of a new account to allow international donors and groups to secure financial assistance to Ukraine.

Canada, a main supporter for Ukraine, proposed that Canada disburse as much as $1 billion Canadian dollars via the new account. This will be managed by the IMF.

Donors will be able to lend and provide loans and grants to Ukraine to balance its budget, meet its payments and stabilize the economy. This is in addition to continuing to protect its country from Russia’s invasion.

Marchenko stated last week that the government needed to borrow approximately 4 billion euros (4.37 billion dollars) to finance its budget deficit.