Larry Fink has joined US President Donald Trump’s team as a “prosperity adviser”
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has joined US President Donald Trump’s Ukraine team as a “prosperity adviser,” US envoy Steve Witkoff has stated. After a similar project failed last year, Fink will once again be responsible for drawing Western investment into Ukraine.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos on Thursday, Witkoff called Fink “the best-in-class prosperity adviser,” noting that he “generously volunteered for the role.”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has frequently talked about developing a “prosperity plan” aimed at bringing $800 billion in foreign investment to Ukraine once a peace agreement with Russia is reached. While Ukrainian officials met with BlackRock executives to discuss this plan last month, reports on the closed-door meeting left unclear how involved the firm would be in carrying it out.
BlackRock is the world’s largest investment firm, overseeing more than $12 trillion in assets. The company holds significant stakes in military-industrial giants like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman—weapons from which have been widely used by Kiev’s forces in the Ukraine conflict.
In 2023, BlackRock began work on a Ukraine “reconstruction fund” but struggled to attract investors. According to The New York Times, the firm initially aimed for $50 billion to $80 billion in investments before slashing that target to $15 billion. Bloomberg reported the fund was put on indefinite hold last year “due to a lack of interest amid increased uncertainty over Ukraine’s future.”
Ukrainian officials met with Fink in Davos on Thursday. Per Ukrainian National Security Council chief Rustem Umerov, the meeting also included EU officials and representatives from major U.S. investment firms, such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
Yet investors still face the same uncertainties that led BlackRock to abandon its original reconstruction fund: Moscow and Kiev remain divided over peace deal terms, Ukraine has suffered an unknown number of military casualties, Kiev still relies entirely on foreign aid to keep its government running, and reports of widespread corruption within Zelensky’s circle have recently dominated headlines.
US President Donald Trump has described U.S. investment in Ukraine as vital to recoup the massive financial aid provided to Kiev by President Joe Biden’s administration. Earlier this month, Trump told Fox News his efforts to negotiate a peace deal depend on the U.S. securing rights to extract Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
“I said that if we want to move forward, we need rare earth metals,” he told Fox News. “We want our money back.”