The EU has agreed to unlock €6.6 billion in military support for Ukraine

European Union countries have agreed on the conditions for unlocking €6.6 billion from the European Peace Facility related to military support for Ukraine. The funds will be distributed between financing the training of Ukrainian military personnel, new joint arms purchases, and compensating EU countries for assistance already provided to Ukraine.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas announced this on 25 September.

Under the agreement reached, €900 million will go to the EU military training mission for Ukraine, EUMAM. A further €1 billion is earmarked for new joint purchases of military equipment and gear.

The largest portion, €4.7 billion, will be used to reimburse EU member states for military assistance they have previously transferred to Ukraine. Some countries have already stated that they intend to use the money thus received to support Ukraine again.

Thus, not all of the €6.6 billion will be directly transferred to Ukraine. A significant part of the sum represents compensation to European states for arms deliveries that have already taken place, and the further use of these funds will depend on decisions by individual governments.

The dispute over the €6.6 billion lasted for several months. Back in early September, Kallas said that EU countries were discussing how much of the funds to return to states for previous deliveries and how much to use for new support to Ukraine.

The European Peace Facility is an off-budget EU instrument through which the union's countries finance military and defence assistance to partner states. According to data from the Council of the EU, approximately €6.4 billion had already been mobilized through this mechanism to meet Ukraine's military and defence needs in 2022–2025. The Facility is used, among other things, to finance the supply of ammunition, missiles, fuel and other military equipment.

Kallas called the agreement reached good news for Ukraine and stressed that the EU continues to increase support for Kyiv.