The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it would provide a new four-year $17.5bn bailout for war-torn Ukraine that is expected to lead to a restructuring of Kiev’s privately-held debts so that it can shore up its public finances. The new rescue replaces a $17bn programme launched less than a year ago but abandoned when the conflict with Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern districts worsened, undermining the country’s public finances. The IMF had distributed $4.5bn in the first programme, bringing the fund’s total commitment to Ukraine to $22bn. More On this story On this topic IN Europe With separate EU and US pledges already made — and expected promises of bilateral loans from the world’s biggest economies worth several billion dollars — the size of the financial aid package will reach $40bn. But it may […]