EU summit unveils €90B loan, air defense for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia

Following the meeting, the leaders reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

"The European Union will continue to provide, in coordination with like-minded partners and allies, comprehensive political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people," the statement reads.

In addition, the parties agreed on the following key points:

• The EU welcomes the opening of the first negotiation cluster regarding the country’s accession to the bloc and looks forward to the opening of the remaining five clusters based on a merit-based approach
• Borders must not be changed by force, and the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be determined without Kyiv’s participation
• The European Council supports ending the war through diplomatic means and is ready to play a more active role in this process
• The European Union is ready to contribute to providing reliable security guarantees for Ukraine, in particular through a Coalition of the Willing and cooperation with the United States. Specifically, through the EUMAM and EUAM missions. The EU is also ready to monitor the ceasefire
• The EU has called for intensified efforts to assist Ukraine with urgent recovery, reconstruction, and energy needs ahead of next winter, as well as to ensure the swiftest possible repair of the Chornobyl protective dome
• The EU remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s recovery and therefore looks forward to the Conference on the Recovery of Ukraine, which will take place on June 25–26 in Gdańsk
• The European Council expresses its hope that the first tranche of the $90 billion loan will be disbursed by the end of June
• The European Union calls for accelerating the supply and production of air defense systems, ammunition, drones, and missiles for Ukraine
• The European Council remains firmly committed to increasing pressure on Russia and therefore calls for the 21st sanctions package to be adopted as soon as possible
• Leaders called for an immediate end to any assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine and condemned the deployment of troops from North Korea and other support for Russia from Iran and Belarus
• The EU also calls on Russia and Belarus to immediately return all Ukrainian children to Ukraine who were illegally taken out of the country.

"In the face of serious security threats and challenges and with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine remaining an existential challenge for the European Union, Europe’s defence readiness must be decisively ramped up by 2030," the EU summit concludes.

What else is important

In addition to the European Council summit, Europe also hosted the 35th session of the Ramstein format meeting. Following the meeting, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that new military aid packages for Ukraine totaling approximately $4 billion were announced at the session.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also summarized the results of a series of meetings in Europe and noted that all Europeans were confident that, together with Kyiv, they would ultimately succeed in stopping Vladimir Putin.