European Council: Financial aid of 18 billion euros to Ukraine
The European Council confirmed the provision of €18 billion in financial aid and humanitarian aid in 2023 to Ukraine.
In their conclusions on Ukraine, European leaders stress that the EU will step up humanitarian and civil protection assistance to Ukraine, including in kind, and help restore the country’s vital winter infrastructure.
The European Council calls on the European Investment Bank, in close cooperation with the Commission and international financial institutions, to step up its support for Ukraine’s most urgent infrastructure.
The European Council also calls on the Commission to step up coordination with European industry and international actors to provide sustainable priority equipment to Ukraine, such as engines, heating plants, generators, transformers and high voltage and lighting equipment. In this context, the European Council welcomes the outcome of the Paris Thought on Resilience and Reconstruction of Ukraine on 13 December 2022.
The European Council reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, reaffirms the EU’s full support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, as well as Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defense against of the Russian attack.
It also emphasizes that the EU remains committed to providing political and military support to Ukraine, in particular through the Peace Facility and the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of the country, and is strengthening bilateral support, in particular air defense capabilities.
European leaders say, finally, that Russia’s continued raids against Ukrainian civilians, political targets, energy infrastructure and utilities, to inflict even more suffering on the Ukrainian people, is a crime for which there can be no impunity.
“It has to stop. The European Council calls on all international partners to make similar calls and exert their influence to this end,” the 27 state.
The European Council further calls on Russia to immediately stop actions that endanger the safety of civilian nuclear facilities and underlines the country’s full support for the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Source: RES-MPE