On the eve of the summit between the European Union and Ukraine, the Council of the EU on February 2 adopted measures within the framework of the European Peace Fund (EPF), which provide for further military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported press service of the Council of the EU.
According to the report, this includes the seventh package of support worth 500 million euros and 45 million euros aimed at supporting the European Union Military Assistance Training Mission (EUMAM Ukraine) for the training of the Ukrainian military.
“Ukraine must receive all the necessary military equipment and training to protect its territory and its people from Russia’s aggressive war. They are not just defending their country; they also protect our shared values and basic principles of international law. Today’s new measures send a clear message at a crucial time: we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Thanks to the seventh package, the total contribution of the EU under the EPF for Ukraine will amount to 3.6 billion euros, the Council of the EU reported.
On January 23, a Radio Liberty correspondent reported that Hungary refused to block the next package of military aid to Ukraine. At the same time, Reuters sources reported that EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels approved a new tranche of military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million euros. The representative of Lithuania in the EU, Arnoldas Prantskevičius, also informed about this decision.
The next Ukraine-EU summit will be held on February 3 this year in Kyiv. On June 23, 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union. The government expects that Ukraine will go through negotiations on joining the European Union in less than two years.
There was no summit in 2022, which is an annual event. The previous Ukraine-EU summit was also held in Ukraine. It took place in October 2021 with the participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Then a number of documents were signed.
