TODAY07:36
CHARLOTTE BRANDIS
According to the European Commission, the current EU aid to Ukraine in the face of the war is far from sufficient. "Ukraine needs 3 to 3.5 billion euros per month as support to maintain the functioning of the state," EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said at a conference on Monday. The short-term aid would have to be continued over a longer period of time than originally hoped. For the long-term reconstruction, the estimates even amounted to 349 billion euros, Hahn said, citing the World Bank.
The EU states had agreed to provide Kiev with nine billion euros in macro-financial assistance to cover the current expenditure of the state. One billion of these have already been disbursed, and further loans totalling five billion are to be disbursed gradually from mid-October. Hahn said that in view of the continuing need, it was necessary to think about how the aid could be paid not only ad hoc, but also automatically to Ukraine.
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, the Ukrainian budget, including military spending, has been largely financed from Western countries since the beginning of the war. According to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission, together with the states, has so far mobilized more than 19 billion euros for Ukraine.
In addition, a spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS) has described the attacks on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities as war crimes. "These attacks are barbaric and cowardly attacks," he said in Brussels on Monday. They only showed that Russia had opted for a tactic of targeted and indiscriminate bombing of civilians. "This violates international humanitarian law, and this indiscriminate bombing of civilians amounts to a war crime," he said. The EU will continue to support Ukraine in all necessary areas. |
