The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced Monday in kyiv that Ukraine will receive a payment of 3.5 billion euros from the European Union in Marchcoinciding with the third anniversary of the large -scale war in the country initiated by Russia.
“Europe is there to strengthen Ukraine in this critical period. I can announce that a new payment of 3.5 billion euros in favor of Ukraine will arrive in March, “said Von der Leyen in a speech in the Ukrainian capital, where he has moved today with 24 of his 27 commissioners, including the Spanish Teresa Ribera.
He has specified that the objective of this plan is to guarantee a resistant, safe and competitive energy system for Ukraine. And he commented that, Until now, the EU and its member states have supported Ukraine with 134,000 million euros, “more than anyone”.
The head of the Community Executive also recalled that On March 6, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union will celebrate a summit on Ukraine and European Defense Convened this Sunday by the president of the European Council, António Costa, who is also present today in kyiv.
Von der Leyen has added that he will present a Comprehensive plan on how to strengthen European weapons and defense production capabilitiesof which Ukraine will also benefit.
But, he pointed out that security goes beyond the military dimensionas it has been evident during the three years in which “Russia has been trying to plunge Ukraine in the dark relentlessly attacking energy infrastructure”.
The “resistance” of Ukraine is “absolute priority”
In this sense, he has stressed that “Strengthening the resistance” of Ukraine is an “absolute priority” for the European Union. “The war in Ukraine remains a crucial crisis, its consequences are the most serious for the future of Europe,” he said.
In this way, von der Leyen has warned that, in the face of the determination of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for achieving the “capitulation” of Ukraine, the EU knows what “would” come next, because it already happened in the past ” , and therefore the “absolute priority” of the block is “to strengthen the resistance” of Ukraine.
“A peaceful nation has been invaded without more reason than Putin’s imperial obsessionbut we believe in a free and sovereign Ukraine that walks to the European Union, “the German conservative has proclaimed to insist on the commitment to accompany kyiv on the way to adhesion.
Von der Leyen, who has traveled to kyiv accompanied by almost all of his school of commissioners, has stressed that “It is not only the destiny of Ukraine what is at stake”, but “the fate of Europe”and therefore for the EU it is an “absolute priority to strengthen the resistance of Ukraine.”
