Politico: The EU plans to create a special fund for the Ukrainian army worth €20 billion

The European Union plans to create a special fund to finance the Ukrainian army over the next four years in the amount of up to €20 billion.

Five diplomats familiar with the matter told Politico.

According to them, the proposal will not include direct payments from the EU for weapons for Ukraine. In return, Brussels will help countries cover their own costs for the purchase and transfer of weapons and training of the Ukrainian military.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, hinted at the idea during a summit of EU leaders in June.

“You have to make Ukraine able to defend. So the European Peace Facility for Ukraine, maybe it has to become a new Ukrainian defense fund,” he said.

A new proposal for financing the Ukrainian army was sent to EU countries on July 17. Foreign ministers are to consider it on July 20 at a meeting in Brussels. According to two diplomats, they want to adopt the proposal by autumn.

"Our level of support to Ukraine in the military is now so high, that money allocated to the European Peace Facility for Ukraine will be soon exhausted," said a senior European official.

According to him, the EU seeks to make military support to Ukraine "predictable in the long term."

• The European Peace Fund was created in March 2021 to finance all common foreign and security policy actions related to military and defense issues. In particular, this EU fund is designed to finance the strengthening of the capacity of non-EU countries.
• On June 21, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU countries approved the increase of the European Peace Fund by €3.5 billion.