WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The United States' $2 billion loan guarantee for Ukraine, announced Tuesday, is meant to keep Ukraine out of insolvency brought on by its separatist conflict.

The U.S. Treasury Department said half the amount would be available in the first half of 2015; it would work with the U.S. Congress to provide the rest. The guarantees hinge on Ukraine's implementation of reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are being negotiated in Kiev.


Ukraine requires an injection of $15 billion, atop the $17 billion promised by the IMF, to stay solvent, the European Union calculated. The country's financial reserves have been depleted by the nine-month war on its eastern border with pro-Russian separatists, and its foreign reserves dropped to their lowest level in 10 years to help pay off debt and import Russian natural gas. Its economy is in recession, and the value of its currency, the hryvnia, fell 41 percent against the U.S. dollar in 2014.