Bloomberg: US investment bank pauses Ukraine recovery fund after Trump win

BlackRock Inc., American multinational investment company, has halted its search for investors to support a multibillion-dollar Ukraine recovery fund at the start of 2025, following a shift in US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Ukraine Development Fund, which was expected to be unveiled at next week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, had been close to securing early backing from state-supported entities in Germany, Italy, and Poland, the sources told Bloomberg, Caliber.Az reports.

However, in January, BlackRock paused talks with institutional investors amid growing uncertainty surrounding Ukraine’s future and waning interest.

The move comes as the Trump administration signals a retreat from Ukraine support. During his campaign, Trump pledged to end the war and bring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. But since taking office at the start of the year, Trump has clashed with both leaders and issued inconsistent proposals for resolving the conflict. Notably, the US government was absent from the list of expected fund contributors as of December.

Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of BlackRock and one of the lead figures behind the initiative, said last year that the fund was aiming to raise at least $500 million from governments, development banks, and other grant providers, alongside $2 billion from private investors. 

The broader goal was to form a consortium of equity and debt partners to finance at least $15 billion worth of reconstruction in Ukraine — a fraction of the more than $500 billion estimated by the World Bank and others in February.

A BlackRock spokesperson said the company had concluded its pro-bono advisory role on the Ukraine Development Fund in 2024 and is no longer engaged in “any active mandate” with the Ukrainian government. 

“The only conversations that drive our decision-making are those with our clients,” the spokesperson added.

The fund was initially slated to be unveiled at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on July 10–11, which will be attended by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Zelenskyy. However, the launch date had not been publicly confirmed.

By Sabina Mamamdli