The European Commission on Thursday disbursed €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in budget support for Ukraine as part of a large economic aid programme.
“Symbolically, the disbursement coincides with Ukraine’s Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II,” the commission wrote in a press release.
The money is part of loans worth €45 billion provided by the Group of Seven (G7) economically developed Western democracies and the European Union.
With Thursday’s payment, the EU has disbursed €6 billion since the beginning of the year. The bloc has committed to lend Ukraine a total of €18.1 billion under the programme.
The loans are to be repaid with proceeds from frozen Russian assets in the EU.
“Russia will pay for the destruction it has caused to Ukraine,” said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
“The EU continues to support Ukraine – politically, financially, economically and militarily,” he added.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU and its 27 member states have provided Ukraine with almost €150 billion in economic, humanitarian and military aid.