PrivatBank CEO Mikael Björknert says US and international investors have shifted their focus from wartime curiosity to reconstruction financing, with Ukraine’s rebuild estimated at $600 billion. The bank is pushing key partners to expand risk-sharing limits, raise loan ceilings to $50 million, and help develop a war insurance market to unlock stalled private investment.

US and international investors remain focused on Ukraine’s reconstruction prospects despite the ongoing war, with the central question now being how to mobilize enough capital to finance a rebuild estimated at $600 billion, PrivatBank CEO Mikael Björknert told Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.

Investors see reconstruction not only as a process after the war in Ukraine is over, but also as the need to rebuild during the war, especially for state-owned companies such as Naftogaz and operators of heating infrastructure. This blurs the line between wartime and post-war recovery, Björknert said.

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PrivatBank held Hr. 941 billion ($22.3 billion) in assets in 2025, making it Ukraine’s largest lender, while revenue reached Hr. 88 billion ($2.1 billion), according to National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) statistics.

“If we talk about two different phases: the war phase and the reconstruction phase, from the war-phase perspective, they are more curious about this – how it is to live there, how it is for businesses… is there fatigue, and so on. But they are much more focused on the next step, the reconstruction. And this is very much about how we will ensure we have enough capital for it,” Björknert told Kyiv Post.

Ukraine will require an estimated $588 billion in recovery and reconstruction funding over 2026-2035, according to the updated Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5).

“The question is, how will they be financed?” Björknert said.

PrivatBank CEO Mikael Björknert in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post Advertisement

PrivatBank CEO Mikael Björknert in an interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, April 17, 2026. Photo by Iurii Panin / Kyiv Post