Borrell confirms EU did not agree upon allocating €500 million to help Ukraine with weapons

Following a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday 23 October, Josep Borrell, European Foreign Affairs chief, confirmed a decision on the allocation of a tranche of €500 million to help Ukraine with weapons was not made.

Source: Borrell at a press conference in Luxembourg, as reported by the correspondent of European Pravda

Details: The top EU diplomat said that the heads of foreign affairs agencies discussed how to meet "the most urgent needs of Ukraine, its defence needs".

Quote: "We have not yet managed to solve the problem of the eighth and last tranche of the European Peace Fund. We are still looking for a solution to this issue, but one way or another we will find it," he said.

The media reported that Hungary blocked the decision.

Borrell added that ministers have also discussed approving a separate multibillion-euro programme to fund military aid to Ukraine under the European Peace Fund, but are awaiting political guidance from the European Council meeting this week.

At the beginning of October, Ukraine removed the Hungarian OTP Bank from the list of "war sponsors", satisfying one of the key demands of Budapest, namely of Hungary not participating in further EU financing for the transfer of weapons to Ukraine until the financial institution is removed from the list.

The status of an international war sponsor was suspended for OTP Bank, as well as five Greek carriers, which Kyiv accused of illegally transporting Russian oil to circumvent the price ceiling.

Last week, the European Union was counting on Hungary to unblock the eighth tranche of military aid for Ukraine within the framework of the so-called European Peace Facility, and hopes it will be able to transfer this money to Ukraine "sooner rather than later".

Support UP or become our patron!