Ukraine to receive EUR 80 million from profits from frozen russian assets - Kallas

The European Union has allocated an additional EUR 80 million to Ukraine, which were received as interest on the frozen assets of the aggressor country of russia. This was announced at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

These funds will be used to strengthen the energy system, in particular to purchase generators and equipment for repairing energy facilities to ensure stable operation of the infrastructure during the next heating season.

"Today we are also providing an additional 80 million to Ukraine, which were withdrawn as interest from frozen russian assets. And we will mobilize international support to provide generators to Ukraine and equipment for repairing energy facilities to prepare Ukraine's energy system for the coming winter," she said.

Kallas also assured that financial support for Kyiv would remain stable, despite any attempts to block the allocation of funds.

Answering questions about possible scenarios in the event of delays with loans, the official emphasized the availability of backup options.

"The loan that we are talking about now, we will provide it anyway. We agreed on this at the end of last year. There is also a "plan B", which consists in using frozen assets. If "plan B" does not work, we return to "plan A". No matter what, we must provide Ukraine with the financing it needs," the EU High Representative concluded.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU heads of state planned to force the Hungarian Prime Minister to lift his veto on a critically important loan. This financial assistance package was agreed on last December, but Orbán blocked its implementation last month.

As a reminder, Orbán previously stated that he would not make any compromises with Ukraine and would end the Ukrainian blockade of the Druzhba oil pipeline by force.