By David Lawder

BRUSSELS (Reuters). U.S. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen urged U.S. allies Tuesday to boost financial support for Ukraine, saying that the funds already announced would not provide enough for Ukraine’s urgent needs in fighting a Russian invasion.

“Ukraine has significant financing needs,” Yellen stated in remarks that were prepared to be delivered to the Brussels Economic Forum. She also said that Ukraine’s government continues to function due to its ingenuity, bravery, and leadership.

“Ukraine needs to have budget financing in order to pay its soldiers, pensioners and employees, and to run an economy that provides basic necessities for all citizens, until the tax collection process can be resumed at pace,” Yellen stated. It will soon need to repair and restore critical utilities and services.

Although Ukraine will eventually require “massive assistance” to rebuild and recover on the same scale as the post-World War Two Marshall Plan, it would need this support “one at a time.”

“What is certain is that Ukraine’s basic requirements will not be met by the multilateral and bilateral assistance announced thus far,” Yellen declared.

The war has decimated half of Ukraine’s economic activity. According to Volodymyr Zeleskiy (International Monetary Fund), the country needs short-term, external financing to cover its basic needs.

On Wednesday, Europe will present a new package to Ukraine for immediate liquidity and commitments towards long-term reconstruction. Two people familiar with the talks told Reuters that the package would provide liquidity for Ukraine in the immediate future.

As the U.S. Senate drew closer to passing a $40 billion funding package for military and humanitarian assistance to the war-torn nation, Yellen asked allies to join her in “joining us” to increase their support of Ukraine.

YOU WILL NEED TO DO TAXWORK

Yellen stated that more work needed to achieve a global agreement on corporate tax reform. In order to resolve disagreements about the structure of Pillar 1, which would allow large multinationals with high profits to transfer some tax rights to countries that sell their products and services, this plan must be reworked.

On Monday, the treasury secretary failed to convince Polish officials to approve the EU implementation plan of the Pillar 2’s 15% global corporate minimum tax. However, he pledged that he would continue to work on this issue.

Yellen stated that Pillar 2 requires the EU and USA to show leadership in implementing the global minimal tax quickly into their domestic laws.

As Europe sought to end its dependence on Russian oil, She said that the United States would continue to support European energy needs.

She urged the United States, Europe and allies to work together in order to decrease China’s dependence on them for crucial materials like rare earth metals.

Yellen stated that Russian energy is less accessible due to supply cut embargoes and shortages, so there will likely be a short-term increase in coal use. Let’s not forget that even if we lose some of our climate targets for a brief period, it should also prompt us to increase our focus on renewable and clean energy.