EU approves € 5 bln military fund for Ukraine

After weeks of disagreement, the EU has agreed to a €5 billion boost to the fund for Ukraine's military aid.

Mar 14, 2024 - 08:16

EU approves € 5 bln military fund for Ukraine

The EU ambassadors have agreed to allocate another 5 billion euros to the European Peace Facility fund for military aid to Ukraine, announced EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrelll.

https://t.co/Iedmg48usO
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) March 13, 2024

“We made it. The Fund will allow us to step up our military support to #Ukraine with another €5 billion. The message is clear: we will support Ukraine with whatever it takes to prevail,” Borrelll wrote on the social media platform X.

This takes the total disbursed by the fund for Ukraine to €12 billion since Russia’s invasion in 2022. The fund reimburses EU states for weapons and training provided to Ukraine.

In January, Borrelll proposed absorbing the EPF’s existing 6.5 billion euro assets into a new Ukraine-dedicated military fund, topped up by 5 billion annually over 4 years.

However, talks dragged on due to disputes over criteria like whether to discount bilateral donations from national contributions and whether to prioritize EU-made arms.

The approved plan increases joint procurement from EU defense firms and Norway. But it allows flexibility to purchase non-EU weapons during a transition period, unlike France’s push for an EU-only supply chain.

Previously, 80% of the bloc’s Ukraine military aid spending went outside the EU, mostly to the US.

The final decision is supposed to be approved at the next EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, said Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba.

I am grateful to EU member states for agreeing to HRVP @JosepBorrellF's proposal to increase the European Peace Fund's financial ceiling by €5 billion for additional military support to Ukraine.
This is yet another powerful and timely demonstration of European unity and…
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 13, 2024

In February, the EU has approved a €50 billion non-military aid package to support Ukraine’s economy through 2027. The funds consist of grants and loans financed from the EU budget.

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