Ukraine expects to sign more than 160 agreements worth more than €10 billion over the next two days during a major recovery conference in the Polish city of Gdańsk, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday. The EU will transfer the first tranche, consisting of €3.2 billion, of its promised €90 billion loan to Ukraine on Thursday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. She added that the bloc would start paying out the first slice of €6 billion earmarked for drone production in the coming days. The conference is an annual gathering of international leaders, policymakers and business figures dedicated to mobilizing investment for Ukraine’s reconstruction following Russia’s 2022 invasion. The project is widely viewed as Europe’s largest infrastructure and economic undertaking since the Marshall Plan, the US-led program that helped rebuild the continent after World War II. Ukraine’s reconstruction needs are estimated at hundreds of billions of euros and span virtually every sector of the economy, from energy and transportation to defense manufacturing, industrial production, digitalization and urban redevelopment. Von der Leyen said that a promised investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, backed by the EU, France, Germany and Poland, was also “ready to go”, and could mobilize around €500 million this year.