Al Jazeere News:
The European Union is drawing up plans for a 20-billion-euro ($22bn) fund to provide Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and military aid as it fights Russia’s invasion, officials have said.
Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, outlined the four-year proposal to EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
Following the meeting, Borrell said the EU would “transform existing support into a long-term commitment” to Ukraine’s security and resilience.
“We propose the creation of a dedicated section on the European peace facility to provide up to five billion euros a year for the next four years for the defence needs of Ukraine,” he said.
“This is the evaluation of the needs and the costs of our long-term security commitments to Ukraine,” Borrell told reporters.
The proposal came amid an international drive to give Ukraine long-term security assurances, as announced by members of the G7 group on the sidelines of last week’s NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius.
