Ukrainian demonstrators rally in Kyiv on February 12, 2022 to show unity amid U.S. warnings of an imminent Russian invasion. Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko/UPI
Civilians train to hold Kalashnikov rifles as they participate in a training session in Kyiv on February 13, 2022. The Kyiv Defense Headquarters conducted extensive training to teach the population to defend themselves in the event of an invasion by Russian troops. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
Ukrainians prepare Molotov cocktails outside their home near Lviv in western Ukraine on March 2, 2022. Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, 2022, triggering a Ukrainian resistance and a series of announcements by Western countries to impose severe economic sanctions on Russia. Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko/UPI
Firefighters and people stand beside a damaged building in a residential area after a shelling in Kyiv on March 18, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
A man cleaning from his destroyed apartment after shelling in Kyiv on March 18, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
Local residents stand on a destroyed Russian tank in Bucha on April 2, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
A destroyed bridge in the recaptured city of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, on April 4, 2022. Ukraine and Western nations accused Russian troops of war crimes after the discovery of the mass graves and civilians who were apparently executed in Bucha. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
A Ukrainian woman walks past destroyed buildings in the town of Borodianka on April 5, 2022. The European Union said on April 4, 2022, it is urgently discussing a new round of sanctions on Russia as it condemned "atrocities" reported in Ukrainian towns that have been occupied by Moscow's troops. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
Destroyed buildings remain in the town of Borodianka. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
A Ukrainian woman cries near destroyed buildings in Borodianka. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
Ammunition abandoned by Russian forces lies on the side of a road in Borodianka. Photo by Vladyslav Musienko/UPI
A Ukrainian woman looks at cars destroyed during the invasion at a junkyard in Irpin on April 18, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
Relatives and friends attend the funeral ceremony for Ukrainian Ruslan Nechyporenko, who was killed on March 17, 2022 by Russian soldiers in the recaptured city of Bucha. Ukrainian authorities say that over 700 bodies were discovered following the Russian army's retreat from towns surrounding Kyiv, prompting international calls for a probe into possible war crimes committed by Russia. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
A Ukrainian flag is seen outside the window of a demolished kitchen in an apartment building in Borodyanka on April 21, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Ukrainian soldiers cross the destroyed bridge crossing the Irpin River from the town on April 22, 2022. The bridge was blown up by Ukrainian forces to block, or at least slow, Russian armor reaching Kyiv. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Friends and family attend funeral services for Mark Bobrovytsky, 59, Halyna Bobrovytskyi, 59, and Maksym Bobrovytsky, 25, at a cemetery in Borodyanka on April 23, 2022. They died in their apartment in Borodyanka after a Russian airstrike. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Andrii (L), 42, comforts Tromssa Iryna, 55, during burial services for Tromssa Bogdan Volodymerovuch, 24, at a cemetery in Bucha. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
People line up waiting to be blessed with holy water outside the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Borodyanka for Easter services on April 24, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI1
Ukrainian soldiers and other parishioners attend Easter services at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Irpin. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A view of a neighborhood destroyed by Russian missiles in Borodyanka on April 26, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A Ukrainian Secret Service member walks through a neighborhood destroyed by Russian missiles in advance of a visit from Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in Borodyanka. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Local citizens exit a van after being evacuated from the recently liberated town of Ryska Lozova on April 30, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Lyubov Ivanovna Vlasenko (L), 70, and her husband, Gennady Ivanovich Sergeev, 74, eat lunch in their basement-turned bunker, moments after Russian artillery landed about 800 meters away in the Pyatikhatki district of Kharkiv on May 1, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
An unexploded ordnance sticks out of the ground as Eco-Park employees chase after a llama to be rescued and brought to the town of Poltava for safety after Russians shelled the area on May 2, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Oleg Petyushenko, 46, shows the remains of Russian artillery near his apartment building close to the Russian border in Kharkiv. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A Russian soldier is detained by the Ukrainian Army at a local hospital in Kharkiv on May 5, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Svetlana Magyrovks, 58, picks up a giant purple teddy bear in a destroyed room of her home in Irpin on May 9, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
The Rev. Andrii Gavalin presides over the funeral of Eugene Bogdanov, 35, as he is being laid into the ground in Bucha on May 10, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Two people walk their bikes down a road strewn with debris from Russian shelling in the northern parts of Kharkiv on May 11, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Vladislav Raenko (R) and his girlfriend visit the gravesite of Raenko's father, Vladymyr Andreevych Raenko at a cemetery in Kharkiv on May 13, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A destroyed Ukrainian 2S7 Pion tank sits in a field in Vilhivka on May 14, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A duck flaps its wings next to a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces in a small town east of Kharkiv on May 16, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Derogatory remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin are written on a chalkboard in the Secondary School of Merefa that was damaged on May 18, 2022. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
A family eats while living in a metro station in Kharkiv on May 20, 2022. At the beginning of the Russian invasion, hundreds of people lived throughout the metro station platforms and in metro cars. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
People look at destroyed Russian military equipment on Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv on August 21, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
A Ukrainian servicemen stands guard by the wall of memory to the fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv on August 24, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
A Ukrainian flag flies near a monument in Kyiv during Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko /UPI
A wounded woman is treated by emergency service personnel at the site of an explosion in Kyiv on October 10, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko /UPI
Firefighters conduct work while smoke rises from a building after it was attacked by Russian suicide drones in Kyiv on October 17, 2022. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko /UPI
A man lays flowers at the site where a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in Brovary, killing 16 people, including two children, in Kyiv on January 18, 2023. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI
March 22 (UPI) -- The International Monetary Fund said it has reached a staff-level agreement to provide Ukraine with $15.6 billion, a much-needed loan to aid the country in continuing to function while in the midst of a war with Russia.
The IMF announced the deal, which is subject to approval by its executive board, on Tuesday, following months of negotiations as well as discussions with Ukrainian officials in Warsaw from March 8-15.
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"The staff-level agreement reflects the IMF's continued commitment to support Ukraine and is expected to help mobilize large-scale concessional financing from Ukraine's international donors and partners over the duration of the program," said IMF team lead Gavin Gray in a statement.
The war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, has taken a significant toll on the European country. It has devastated infrastructure, with the Kyiv School of Economics estimating in late January that the cost of damage has reached nearly $138 billion.
The conflict has also forced Kyiv's economy to contract by 30% last year, with IMF expectations that real gross domestic product for 2023 will range from a 3% contraction to 1% growth.
The first phase of the four-year program will seek to strengthen fiscal, external, price and financial stability over the next 12 to 18 months, with the second phase shifting focus to what the IMF described in a statement as "more expansive reforms to entrench macroeconomic stability, support recovery and early reconstruction and enhance resilience and higher long-term growth."
Ukraine's Ministry of Finance explained that during the second phase it will be expected to return to pre-war policy frameworks that include a flexible exchange rate and an inflation-targeting regime.
"The overarching goals of the authorities' program are to sustain economic and financial stability in circumstances of exceptionally high uncertainty, restore debt sustainability and support Ukraine's recovery on the path toward EU accession in the post war period," Gary said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a statement on Telegram that they are "grateful" to the IMF for their support and await final approval.
"In the context of a record budget deficit, this program will help us finance all critical expenditures, maintain macro-financial stability and strengthen our interaction with other international partners," he said.
The finance ministry echoed Shmyhal's appreciation while adding that the teams of the IMF, government of Ukraine and Kyiv's national bank did a "tremendous job" to secure the agreement.
The program "will significantly support the Ukrainian economy, financial system and will ensure mobilization of additional donor's financial resources, which is necessary for our successful struggle against the aggressor," Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in a statement.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also welcomed the deal on Tuesday.
"An ambitious and appropriately conditioned IMF program is critical to underpin Ukraine's reform efforts, including to strengthen good governance and address risks of corruption and provide much needed financial support," Yellen said in a statement.
"It will also bolster the economic assistance that the Untied States and our partners have provided that is funding essential services like schools, hospitals and first responders, and which is offering vital support to the Ukrainian economy."