The United States has contributed $500 million (EUR 492.7 million) in donor funds for the EBRD Crisis Response Fund to respond to the impact of the war on Ukraine.

"The funding comes in the form of grants to support investment. It marks a significant milestone in the bank's fundraising efforts, which have mobilised some EUR 1 billion for Ukraine and affected countries so far," the bank said.

EBRD said that the United States of America is a founding member of the EBRD, the bank's single largest shareholder and a very important contributor to its work. Prior to this new contribution, its donor funding had totalled more than EUR 153 million.

"The contribution agreement we are signing today between the United States and the EBRD has come at exactly the right time. We will start deploying it in Ukraine and neighbouring countries as soon as we can," EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said.

The EBRD will match the new resources provided by donors with donor funding from its own capital.

The funding will go towards trade finance to maintain the flow of essential goods, to ensuring energy security, providing emergency liquidity to small businesses, pharmaceutical companies and vital transport providers, and to enabling Ukrainian municipalities to maintain basic public services for citizens.

Critically, the EBRD is targeting food security through substantial support for the Ukrainian agricultural sector for planting, crop maintenance, harvest and food supply.

The funding will also be used to help refugees in neighbouring countries and to assist the municipalities hosting them.

To prioritise and efficiently manage donor resources entrusted to the Bank in support of Ukraine and neighbouring countries, the Bank has set up the EBRD Crisis Response Special Fund to channel donor support.

So far, the EBRD has invested EUR 650 million in response to the war on Ukraine and is on track to utilise EUR 1 billion by the end of the year.