Yellen calls on allies to step up Ukraine funding

STORY: "Ukraine's financing needs are significant," Yellen said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Brussels Economic Forum, adding that the country's government continued to function, due to the ingenuity and bravery of its officials.

"In the months until tax collection can resume at pace, Ukraine needs budget funding to pay soldiers, employees and pensioners, as well as to operate an economy that meets its citizens' basic needs," Yellen said. "In short order, it will need to turn to repairing and restoring critical utilities and services."

While Ukraine would eventually need "massive support" for reconstruction and recovery on the scale of the post-World War Two Marshall Plan for Europe, the country would have to take this "one step at a time."

With the war shuttering as much as half of Ukraine's economy, the country requires near-term external financing of about $5 billion per month to meet basic needs, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the International Monetary Fund.

Yellen called on allies to "join us in increasing their financial support to Ukraine" as the U.S. Senate moved closer to passing a $40 billion spending package of military and humanitarian aid for the war-torn country.