The European Commission has signed off on 6.1 billion euros in new defence funding for Ukraine, timed to land on the country's Independence Day as Russian missile and drone attacks on its cities continue.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the money would go toward the air and missile defence systems, missiles, ammunition and radars that Ukraine urgently needs. Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius framed the approval in similar terms, saying it would let Ukraine procure the systems required to protect its people and defend its sovereignty.
Drawn from a much larger loan pool
The 6.1 billion euros comes out of a 90 billion euro Ukraine Support Loan that the European Parliament and Council set up earlier this year. Brussels pointed to the scale of recent Russian strikes as the backdrop for the approval, citing more than 375 missile strikes against Ukraine in a single month this summer. Under the loan's rules, individual purchase contracts still need Commission sign off, and procurement is meant to favour suppliers based in EU member states.
The announcement coincided with a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv, where European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden gathered in a show of continued support. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi welcomed the funding on social media. Separately, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said London would share blueprint technology to help Ukraine build its own long range missiles.