Ukraine accepts new financial aid from the Europeans

2023-12-21 15:23:32, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukraine accepts new financial aid from the Europeans

Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russian military forces. Photo from the archive

The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said that Kiev has received the last installment of 1.5 billion euros, from the 18-billion package allocated by the European Union.

"Today, we received the last 1.5 billion euros from the 18-billion financial package. We hope for continuous, unwavering support from the EU", Shmyhal said on X - the platform formerly known as Twitter, on December 21.

He made the statement after Germany announced that it will allocate an additional 88.5 million euros to help strengthen the Ukrainian energy system, after Ukrainian attacks on this infrastructure.

The new financial injection comes as little is known about whether there will be more financial aid from the United States, as lawmakers in Congress have concluded work for the year without reaching an agreement on allocating $61 billion to Ukraine.

The US President, Joe Biden, has called on Congress to approve funds for Ukraine, but conservative Republicans have asked for more funds to reinforce US borders, due to the increase in the number of migrants.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on December 19 that he is sure that the United States will keep its promise to allocate billions of dollars, which enable Kiev to continue the war.

Russia's war in Ukraine, launched in February 2022, is two years old and the end is not in sight.

On December 21, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told foreign media that the Ukrainian army will soon begin the mobilization of men aged 25 to 60 living abroad.

Umerov said that those who do not respond to the call for mobilization will face unspecified sanctions.

On December 19, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army is advancing a proposal for the mobilization of 500,000 civilians, but he himself has not yet decided whether he will support the call.

Ukraine has not indicated how many soldiers are engaged in the war, but in some cases it has been mentioned that there are about 1 million people with weapons in their hands.

Russia has been expanding its military since the start of the war in Ukraine, and has said it plans to increase the force by an additional 1.5 million people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the war a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine.

The West has responded to Russia, hitting the economy of this country with harsh sanctions.

As a result of the war, thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced from their homes./ REL