EU ambassadors approve €2bn allocation to European Peace Fund

EU ambassadors approved an increase in the budget of the European Peace Fund, which pays for weapons for Ukraine, by 2 billion euros, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council announced on Twitter.

“Today, the EU ambassadors approved an additional 2 billion euros to the European Peace Fund. This decision sends a clear signal of the EU’s continued commitment to military support for Ukraine and other partners.

The decision to increase the fund’s budget was made within the framework of an informal meeting of EU defense ministers, which is taking place today in Stockholm. Its participants are discussing, among other things, military support for Ukraine and cooperation with the UN and NATO, the Swedish chairmanship specified.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that the European Union “within weeks” plans to supply the Ukrainian army with 1 billion euros worth of artillery ammunition, which was allocated from the European Peace Fund. Defense ministers were reported to discuss a military aid plan this week ahead of a March 23-24 summit of alliance leaders.

Earlier today, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said before a meeting in Stockholm that Ukraine would receive 18 German and three Portuguese Leopard 2 tanks by the end of March. devastation of ammunition depots, and invited the defense ministers of the union to decide on the start of deliveries. According to him, they can be started within a few weeks and the European Union is ready to spend 1 billion euros on this.

Russia has repeatedly announced retaliatory actions against the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army. In early February, after the announcement of the supply of Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was not sending its tanks to the borders of Western countries, while Western countries decided to supply them to Ukraine, “but we have something to answer, and the use of armored vehicles will not end,” the President emphasized.