EU considering new plan of providing military aid to Ukraine: Details
Photo: EU discussed reforming the military aid fund for Ukraine (flick.com/libereurope)
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union discussed today, January 22, the Brussels proposal to reorganize the fund for supporting Ukraine by annually increasing it by 5 billion euros for the purchase of weapons, writes Radio Liberty correspondent Rikard Jozwiak on X.
"The idea by Brussels to top up the Ukraine assistance fund by 5 billion euro per year in order to send arms to Ukraine was discussed by EU foreign ministers today, but the feeling is that it won't fly and bilateral aid is the way forward," Jozwiak's post says.
The journalist admitted a "feeling" that this initiative might not be approved, and the issue of bilateral assistance to Ukraine is "the way forward."
Background
Recently, it was reported that the EU member states were presented with a proposal to reorganize the fund that provides military support to Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, the bloc plans to switch from sending weapons from existing stocks to purchasing new ones.
It is noted that an annual budget of about 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) is proposed for this purpose, which the EU members failed to agree on.
According to media reports, the fund will have two main directions:
- providing lethal and non-lethal support to Ukraine through joint purchases through the European industry
- continuing training and equipping Ukrainian troops
EU military aid for Ukraine
Earlier today, it was reported that the European Union is working on a new plan to provide tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine. These actions are initiated as part of the update of a critically important aid program, as some countries block funding of 50 billion euros.
The EU plan envisions that over 20 billion euros of EU funds will be returned to countries over the next four years in exchange for their assistance to Ukraine, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. This plan emerged after a week of debates between the EU and its member states.
