Brussels (EFE) euros in aid during 2023.
“Today, we disburse another 1.5 billion euros to Ukraine. Our support helps keep Ukraine functioning as it defends itself and puts the country firmly on its path to the European Union by backing reforms, in good governance and financial stability, for example. Today, we write Ukraine’s European path together,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
Help for essential services
Brussels had already disbursed a first tranche worth 3,000 million euros in mid-January, one sixth of the total of 18,000 million planned for this year, which it will obtain by going to the markets with the endorsement of the community budget.
In a statement, the European Commission assured that this amount will allow essential services such as hospitals, schools or shelters for displaced people to continue operating and will support the reconstruction of critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia, such as bridges, roads or transport networks.
The payment, they added, has been validated after verifying that Ukraine has made “satisfactory progress” under the agreed conditions and complied with the requirements to inform Brussels about its use of the money sent so far, in addition to verifying progress in strengthening the State. of law, financial stability, the operation of the gas system and the improvement of the business climate.
the second shipment
The EU agreed on this package of 18,000 million in January this year after verifying in October that Kiev needed approximately between 3,000 and 4,000 million euros per month to cover the payment of basic services and have a predictable and stable flow of income, while defend against the Russian invasion.
As Von der Leyen said then, that figure should be financed by the EU, the United States and international financial institutions.
According to data from the European Commission, the total macro-financial support to Kiev since the start of the war has already reached 11.7 billion euros in the form of very favorable loans and, as a whole, all European aid to Ukraine in this period is close to 67,000 million euros.
This second figure includes estimates on the resources for Member States that have hosted Ukrainian refugees and financial, humanitarian, budgetary and military aid.
The community bloc increased its sending of macro-financial support to Kiev with the start of the war in February 2022, at which time it also launched other aid channels: this is the case of the European Peace Support Fund (FEAP) which , nourished by contributions from Member States, has already financed military supplies for Ukraine with 3.6 billion euros.
In addition, the countries of the European Union (EU) agreed the day before to invest 2,000 million euros in the delivery to Ukraine of one million rounds of artillery ammunition over 12 months, as a way of accelerating and reinforcing support for Kiev. .
