European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday morning that Ukraine will receive €2 billion for drones soon, though without specifying where that money would come from.
“A total € 2 billion will be spent on drones now” von der Leyen said in a statement next to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“This allows Ukraine to scale up and to use its full capacity and it will also allow the EU to benefit from this technology,” she added.
Von der Leyen did not specify where the money was coming from. She had previously pitched a Drone Alliance for Ukraine, to be supported by the front loading of €6 billion worth of loans from the G7 members’ pledge – the Commission being a member of the club.
“We need a more structural solution to military support to Ukraine”, von der Leyen said, before going on to mention the Commission proposal to use Russian immobilised assets for reparation loans to Kyiv. Belgium remains against the idea.
The idea, von der Leyen clarified, is “not seizing” the assets but that the money to Ukraine would come in the form of loans, paid in tranches, which Kyiv will have to repay “if Russia is paying reparations”.
“We will strengthen our defence industry by ensuring part of the loan is used for procurement in Europe and with Europe,” she added.
Europeans and Canadians should contribute €1 billion per month of US weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday morning on X. Those deliveries are taking place under the so-called PURL mechanism, coordinated by NATO and Washington.
Speaking beside von der Leyen, Rutte endorsed the Commission’s “excellent idea” to set up a “Drone Wall” on the eastern border of the EU and NATO. EU countries’ leaders gathered in Copenhagen tomorrow will discuss the idea, which the Commission has introduced as a priority.
(cp)