EU reaches agreement for another 5 billion in military aid to Ukraine

Brussels-EU member states approved the Ukraine Assistance Facility (UAF). The permanent representatives of the 27 Member States meeting in Brussels agreed on 5 billion euros in urgent military aid to Kyiv for 2024.

The Assistance Fund for Ukraine is part of the European Peace Fund, the instrument through which EU countries have provided Ukraine with military equipment–and obtained repayments, at least partial ones — to the tune of 5.6 billion euros since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The UAF also envisions the possibility of covering the costs of purchasing weapons on the international market to deliver them to the Ukrainian military.

“We made it: Coreper agreed on the Ukraine Assistance Fund. The message is clear: we will support Ukraine with whatever it takes to prevail,” the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said in a post on X. “The EU remains determined to provide sustained support to Ukraine and to ensure that the country receives the military equipment it needs to defend itself,” the Belgian presidency of the EU Council, which led the negotiations among representatives of the 27, added.

This 5 billion is in addition to the 5.6 billion already mobilized over two years for the supply of lethal and non-lethal military equipment, such as personal protective equipment, first aid kits, fuel, ammunition, and missiles. The EPF (European Peace Facility), established in March 2021, is an off-budget instrument aimed at consolidating the Union’s capacity to “prevent conflict, build peace, and strengthen international security.” It initially had a financial ceiling of 5.7 billion euros in current prices for 2021-2027. However, member countries found it necessary to increase it several times and bring it to the current ceiling of 12 billion euros until 2027.

The approval at the EU level comes after Washington announced that it had unblocked $300 million in arms shipments to Kyiv. It will now be up to the foreign ministers of the 27 Member States, who will meet as early as Monday, March 18, in Brussels, to put on paper the agreement found by the diplomacies of the EU countries.