EU unblocks Peace Facility
EU member states agreed on the terms to release €6.6 billion ($7.5 billion) from the European Peace Facility for Ukraine, Kaja Kallas said on Friday.
Kallas said €900 million ($1 billion) would support the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine and €1 billion ($1.2 billion) would fund new joint procurement of military equipment.
Anadolu AjansıKallas said the remaining €4.7 billion ($5.5 billion) would reimburse EU member states, with some countries already saying they would channel their share to Ukraine.
Kallas framed the decision as “That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia,” and she said “Moscow’s hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing the opposite.”
Hungary’s veto ends
EU countries reached the political-level agreement on Friday during a meeting of the Political and Security Committee in Brussels, Euronews said.
Euronews said the initiative had stalled since spring 2023 when Hungary imposed a veto that “paralysed the initiative,” and it said Budapest complained about Kyiv’s decision to add OTP Bank, Hungary’s largest commercial bank, to its list of “international sponsors of war”.
Left out by 8 of 9who reported it
Hungary veto and court challenge by Orbán are described in detail. Reported by Kyiv Post.
Business AMKallas said the release was “That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia,” and she added that “Moscow’s hybrid attacks try to intimidate Europe into scaling back its support for Ukraine. Europe is doing the opposite.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine’s budget crunch needed to be resolved between October and November to pay for drone deliveries scheduled for the first three months of 2027, and he said “Ukraine will not be left alone.”
What the money buys
Kallas said the €6.6 billion package would be split into three strands, with €4.7 billion for reimbursements, €1 billion for joint procurement of military equipment, and €900 million for the EU mission that trains Ukraine’s armed forces.
Reuters said it was unclear exactly how much of the funds to be released under Friday’s agreement would directly benefit Ukraine, and it said it would be up to individual EU governments to decide how much of their refunds they allocate to fresh military aid for Kyiv.R
The Kyiv Independent said the EPF money had been frozen because Viktor Orban blocked the reimbursement mechanism, and it said the case was dismissed on Sept. T9.
The Kyiv Independent said EU defense ministers would meet on Sept. T28 in Brussels, and it said similar commitments could be announced then, while Kallas wrote that “That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia.”