The world's largest investment company BlackRock, which manages assets worth over $11,5 trillion, has stopped looking for investors for a Ukraine recovery fund, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation. The decision to suspend negotiations was made in January 2025, shortly after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, due to increased uncertainty about Washington's continued support for Ukraine. The fund, which was to become a key tool for raising funds to restore Ukraine's devastated economy, was planned to be presented at an international conference on Ukraine's recovery in Rome on July 10-11, 2025. The event, which will be attended by Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was supposed to be a platform for announcing the launch of the initiative, but now its future remains in question.

The fund, called the Ukraine Development Fund, initially aimed to raise at least $500 million from governments, international development banks, and other donors, as well as $2 billion from private investors. A consortium of equity and debt investors could finance up to $15 billion in reconstruction work in Ukraine, BlackRock Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand said last year. The funds were to be part of a larger reconstruction program for the country, which the World Bank estimates to be worth more than $500 billion. In preparation, the fund received preliminary support from entities associated with the governments of Germany, Italy, and Poland. However, the lack of a clear US position after the change of administration has become a key obstacle. A BlackRock spokesman noted that the company completed its pro bono advisory work on the fund in 2024 and currently has no active contracts with the Ukrainian government. The company's decisions, according to its spokesman, are determined solely by the interests of its clients.

The suspension of work on the fund is related to political changes in the United States. Donald Trump, having returned to the White House, repeatedly stated his intention to end the conflict in Ukraine through direct negotiations between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. His election campaign was built on the promise of an immediate end to the conflict, which raised doubts among investors about the stability and future of Ukraine. In January 2025, BlackRock decided to freeze the negotiations, as interest from institutional investors sharply declined amid uncertainty about American support. The Trump administration reportedly did not express official interest in the project, which was a serious blow to the initiative, which counted on the participation of the United States as a key donor.

Attempts to continue work on restoring Ukraine are being made by other countries. France, according to Bloomberg sources, is developing an alternative proposal for the creation of a fund, but its effectiveness without US support remains questionable. The absence of American participation significantly limits the ability to attract large private investors, who traditionally focus on political stability and guarantees from leading Western powers.