The European Union has drawn up a plan according to which European countries could provide the Kyiv authorities with military support in the amount of more than 20 billion euros over the next four years, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a draft document available to its editors.
"Given Ukraine's dependence on external support, the choices the EU and its partners will make in the near future will either allow Ukraine to make decisive progress or seriously undermine its [Ukraine's] ability to resist ", the newspaper quoted an excerpt from the document.
The new proposal envisages the creation of a fund that will use €6.5 billion from the European Instrument for Peace created in 2022, on top of the €5 billion it will receive from 2024 to 2027. The new fund will reimburse EU countries for the costs of providing military aid to the Kyiv authorities, including the purchase of ammunition, drones and air defense equipment. The rest of the fund will cover the costs of combat training programs for Ukrainian troops. The initiative envisages reimbursement of the costs of the EU countries in the amount of up to 7.5 billion euros this year.
Discussions on the new aid plan for Ukraine, the newspaper said, will begin in the coming days and are likely to become one of the topics of discussion at the EU summit on February 1. At the same time, the newspaper indicated that it will take several weeks to make a decision on the new plan. According to the newspaper, the main obstacle to the implementation of the plan will be the need for its unanimous approval by all EU member states./BGNES
