Philanthropist Howard Buffett, whose foundation will have passed the $1 billion this year in funds donated to Ukraine, is on his 18th visit to the country, touring the northeastern region of Sumy with Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.
While chatting with an Associated Press correspondent on a train over the weekend, Buffett said that Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin wants nothing to do with a peace deal no matter what he might tell US negotiators.
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“Putin doesn’t want it, and he won’t respect it,” he said. “There’s no easy way to end the war. So, we’ll stick with it as long as we need to.”
He called the prospect of a peace deal “impossible”, just as he described it in his most recent interview with Kyiv Post, reminding viewers in January 2024 that “people like Putin, they hate America. They hate the West. And [Putin] continues to say that. He says they are fighting his war against the West, not against Ukraine.”
His group has so far contributed about $800 million to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, including $175 million in demining efforts. (Svyrydenko’s ministry is responsible for humanitarian demining infrastructure.)
Other billionaire donors to (and investors in) Ukraine from around the world include hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who pledged more than $3 million to help buy Ukraine buy ambulances in 2023.
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Ackman, who endorsed Trump in 2024, made headlines this week for lashing out at Trump’s tariff policies, saying, “We will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.”
Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest, who contributed about $500 million at the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022 via a reconstruction fund, expected at the time that his Ukraine Green Growth Initiative would grow to $25 billion in all.
While the far-right wing of Republicans in Washington, led by President Donald Trump, has signaled an end to unconditional aid to Ukraine, Buffett said that his organization will continue to send aid to Ukrainians no matter what the White House may put forward in terms of policy.
“It doesn’t change anything we do. We’re on track,” Buffett told the AP reporter aboard the train.
Buffett’s father, Warren, the 94-year-old leader of holding company Berkshire-Hathaway, is considered the fifth-richest individual in America, with an estimated net worth of $150 billion.
Buffett and Svyrydenko were traveling, specifically, to the villages of Popivka and Bobryk in the Sumy region, where the situation has worsened following Ukrainian forces’ loss of ground in Russia’s Kursk region.
The focus of this particular visit was mine-clearing, especially, as parts of Sumy were occupied by Russian forces in 2022 and are now considered at high-risk of civilian casualties.
The AP reported that the duo also stopped at a local school that had been relocated to a basement.
The Economy Minister praised Buffet for his work with Ukraine, calling him one of the country’s “greatest friends”’ and underlined the value of what his organization is trying to achieve.
“He understands very well that if a country that can feed 400 million people cannot clear its fields and loses at least $12 billion of GDP every year due to mined land, it’s a major challenge,” Svyrydenko said.
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