European Commission pledges €335 million in aid to Ukraine
The Ukrainian government approved the agreement on the financing of the "Support of the European Union for Recovery and Reforms" program.
After its signing, Ukraine will receive €335 million in aid from the European Commission, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during the government meeting, Rubryka reports.
The head of the government added that the funds would be directed to the reconstruction of infrastructure, particularly energy, business assistance, anti-corruption measures, and environmental protection and digitization.
Background
According to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE Institute), the direct damage caused to the Ukrainian infrastructure by a full-fledged Russian invasion exceeded $150 billion, almost $56 billion of which was the loss of the housing stock.
According to initial data of the regional military administrations, as of June 2023, the number of housing buildings destroyed or damaged by hostilities is about 167,200, of which 147,800 are private houses, 19,100 are apartment buildings, and another 350 are dormitories.
The explosion of the Kakhovska Dam risked the flooding of almost 37,000 more residential buildings, most of which are located in the Kherson region. The housing stock of such cities as Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, Bakhmut, Maryinka, Lysychansk, Popasna, Izium and Volnovakha suffered the greatest destruction. For example, according to preliminary estimates, 90% of the housing stock is damaged in Sievierodonetsk, and cities such as Bakhmut and Maryinka have almost no undamaged buildings.
In second place in terms of the amount of damage is infrastructure — transport, road management, railway, as well as the aviation industry and the port industry — with $36.6 billion. Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, 19 airports, civilian airfields, and at least 126 railway stations have been damaged. Damage to the port terminals located on the right and left banks of the Dnipro River and the flooding of roads in the Kherson region was also a consequence of the explosion of the Kakhovka plant.
On November 8, the European Commission will assess Ukraine's progress towards EU membership in its annual report. Most likely, it will be positive, but additional conditions may be put forward to Kyiv.
The European Commission will soon present proposals for the use of revenues from Russia's sovereign financial assets blocked on the territory of the EU, the amount of which currently reaches €211 billion, in the interests of Ukraine's recovery.
