ALBAWABA - In an endeavor to assist Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia, which has now reached its third year, the European Union (EU) has announced a pledge of €18.1 billion ($19 billion) to Ukraine as part of a larger $50 billion loan initiative agreed on by the Group of Seven (G7), as AFP reports.
Last month, the United States pledged $20 billion as part of the G7 accord, with Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom all contributing to the total.
The EU’s commitment, backed in part by proceeds from Russian assets that have been seized, will contribute to Ukraine's military and economic objectives as the conflict intensifies.
Senior EU official Valdis Dombrovskis said a memorandum of agreement was signed with Kyiv for the €18.1 billion allocation, with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine praising the EU’s pledge, calling it a “bold step” and a precedent for making Russia held accountable for its actions.
“This is not just financial aid; it is a statement that Russia must pay for its brutal war of aggression,” Shmyhal said in a public statement on X (formerly Twitter).
Since the start of the invasion in 2022, the EU has frozen assets held by the Russian central bank totaling over $235 billion, according to AFP, with about 90% of these assets maintained by Euroclear, a global deposit organization with headquarters in Belgium.
For 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has authorized a $54 billion military and security budget, which accounts for 60% of all national spending. The spending plan encompasses the wages of soldiers and manufacturing of weapons, but remains overshadowed by Russia’s planned $125 billion defense budget for the upcoming year, according to Firstpost.
