Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has pledged assistance to help rebuild Ukraine's battle-damaged aerospace industry once the war with Russia ends as part of postwar reconstruction efforts.
Branson's commitment would aim to help resurrect Ukraine's bombed-out aviation infrastructure and manufacturing capacity.
Richard Branson said:
“I’m keen to work with the President … to understand what business leaders, in partnership with civil society and governments, can do to support the rebuilding of Ukraine’s aerospace industry when the time is right.”
The Virgin Group founder said Ukraine's future economic prosperity relies heavily on the involvement of global companies in rebuilding its war-torn cities and factories. Branson criticized firms still profiting from business dealings with Russia, saying they help fund Moscow's military assault.
As the US Congress has been delaying the approval of a Ukraine aid package for months, Branson said "extremist forces" in the US Congress are "turning Ukraine into a political football. All of this is frustrating":
“Reducing critical military support while gradually pushing for a dictated peace on Russia’s terms would not only be an unforgivable betrayal of Ukraine, it would also legitimize Putin’s decision to invade and encourage further aggressions against Russia’s neighbors in the future,” he said.
The billionaire also warned that reducing Western military aid to Ukraine now would betray promises made when it relinquished its Soviet-era nuclear weapons. He said Congress must urgently approve President Biden's proposed $60 billion defense package for Kyiv's struggling forces.
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