European Union Council has approved the third tranche of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 500 million euros

The Council of the European Union has approved the allocation of the third tranche of 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund (EPF) for the supply of weapons to Ukraine

This was announced by the press service of the Council on Wednesday, European Pravda reports.

According to the document, the European Union will add 500 million euros to the resources that have already been mobilized under the EPF for Ukraine, thus tripling the initial budget to 1.5 billion euros.

"With this new additional 500 million euros, the EU has allocated a total of 1.5 billion euros to support the supply of military equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by EU member states.

The coming weeks will be crucial.

As russia prepares for an offensive in eastern Ukraine, it is very important that we continue and increase our military support for Ukraine to protect its territory and population and prevent further suffering," said Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

"The allocated funds will cover both the supply of weapons and the supply of the Armed Forces of the EU member states with personal protective equipment, first aid kits, and fuel, as well as military equipment designed to deliver deadly forces for defense purposes.

The European Peace Fund, established in 2021, is an emergency fund of 5.69 billion euros, which allows the EU to quickly finance military operations and 'maintain peace, prevent conflict and strengthen international security,;" the EU said.

Preliminary assistance measures to Ukraine were agreed upon by the European Union on February 28 and March 23, 2022. This is the first time the EU has agreed to allocate funds to finance arms supplies to a third country.