European Council chief Charles Michel on Thursday backed a proposal to release an additional 500 million euros ($540 million) to provide arms for Ukraine.
“Once swiftly approved this will bring to 1.5 billion euros the EU support already provided for military equipment for #Ukraine,” Michel tweeted, also thanking EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell for proposing the extra funding.
The proposal was agreed on Thursday by the 27 EU nations at ambassador level.
The EU has already agreed to a 1 billion euro package to provide arms for Kyiv.
“This may seem like a lot, but one billion euros is what we pay Putin every day for the energy he provides us,” Borrell said on Wednesday.
The money comes from a 5 billion euro European peace fund set up by members states.
At a NATO meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he expected NATO members to send Kyiv the weapons it needs, insisting they had to act quickly as Russia readies another major offensive.
“Either you help us now — and I’m speaking about days, not weeks, or your help will come too late, and many people will die, many civilians will lose their homes, many villages will be destroyed. Exactly because this help came too late,” Kuleba said after meeting NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said “it was a clear message from the meeting today that allies should do more and are ready to do more to provide more equipment.”
