Ukraine needs international financial support - Zelensky

KYIV. March 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine is in need of financial support in today's conditions, as budget revenue has seriously declined, but expenditure, especially spending on humanitarian and military purposes, has increased, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

"We are interested in replenishing our budget. We are having difficulties with it, because the majority of enterprises are currently not working, and the private sector is not working for various reasons," Zelensky said at a press conference for foreign journalists on Saturday.

A number of sectors, for instance IT, as well as several strategic enterprises keep operating, and the budget is receiving some revenue, but "we definitely need money," he said.

"Both Europe and the U.S. are helping, are allocating money," the president said.

At the same time, Zelensky could not say exactly how much money is needed to restore the economy.

"I don't have time, and the government doesn't have time to calculate how much it costs and how all this will end," Zelensky said.

Some of the assistance, including military assistance, being provided to Ukraine is not free of charge, he said.

"There is certain assistance from some countries, which are helping us for free. But there is [a concept of] 'weapons today, but the bill later'. That's why, I don't know how much all this costs," Zelensky said.

"It's true: there are higher-priority tasks than money," he said.

When asked about the possibility of compensating Ukraine for its losses by using Russia's frozen funds, Zelensky described Western countries' measure to block these funds as right and voiced regret that it had not been done preemptively.