The EU grants another 500 million military aid to Ukraine
German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz today again demanded from Russian President Vladimir Putin an immediate end to the offensive and invasive war in Ukraine, during a telephone conversation this morning. Scholz reported via Twitter that he had made clear during the conversation Russia’s responsibility for the critical food situation in large areas of the planet due to the war, with threats of famine in various regions. Putin, however, does not seem to give in to pressure from Western interlocutors on him. The Russian president reiterated his claim that the peace talks between Moscow and kyiv are being blocked by Ukraine, according to Russian media. Putin assured in his conversation with Scholz that “combatants of Nazi ideology are flagrantly violating norms of international law” from the Ukrainian side.
The European Union today announced new aid to Ukraine for its defense against Russian aggression amounting to 500 million euros, which will be allocated entirely to military material and equipment. This was announced by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, during the meeting of G7 foreign ministers that is being held in the German tourist town of Weissenhäuser Strand, on the shores of the Baltic. With this new contribution, EU aid to Ukraine for military purposes now amounts to 2,000 million euros. Borrell explained that the purpose of the new funds will be to boost Ukraine’s rearmament, this time with the acquisition of heavy weapons, artillery and tanks with which to better face the Russian invasion. With the funds provided by Brussels, Ukraine had been supplied mainly with protective equipment and defensive weapons for the soldiers, as well as fuel for their vehicles. The latest EU aid package for military purposes to the kyiv authorities, also for 500 million, had been approved in mid-April.
The new military aid comes from the European Peace Support Fund, a new EU financing instrument that can also be used to improve the capabilities of the armed forces of the different member countries. The fund has a budget until 2027 of 5,000 million euros, of which Germany contributes a quarter. During their meeting in northern Germany, the G7 foreign ministers once again expressed their solidarity with Ukraine and stressed that it is very important at this time to maintain pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, “by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and even emphasizing plus the sanctions, said the British head, Liz Truss, who commented that the unity within the G7 in the current crisis “is decisive to defend freedom and democracy.” His French colleague, Jean Yves Le Drian, expressed himself in similar terms, who assured that the G7 countries “are strongly united” in their decision to support Ukraine’s struggle for its long-term sovereignty and until victory!
The head of British diplomacy also announced new sanctions from her country against people from Putin’s inner circle, including his ex-wife Ludmila Ocheretnaya and other relatives. These serve the Russian president as straw men and women to hide his personal fortune, said the minister, who stressed that Putin secretly fattens that fortune thanks to a group of “friends, family and elites”, while his official wealth appears to be modest. . Among those sanctioned is also the apparent lover of the Russian president, the former sports gymnast Alina Kabayeva, with whom he has had at least two sons. The cousins of Russian President Igor Putin and Mikhail Schelomov have also been blacklisted by the British government.
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