Ukraine aid will increase sharply — U.S. diplomat

American diplomat William Taylor, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, said this in an interview with Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on Espreso TV.

"I think it is about to get much bigger. I think it is going to be suddenly much bigger because there has been movement over the past week. Very recently there has been progress on seizing the $300 billion worth of Russian Central Bank assets that have been frozen in Western banks in Europe as well as in the United States since February 2022. That $300 billion can provide the revenues and the funds that are necessary both for weapons and for reconstruction," the diplomat commented.

According to him, there is an intensification of work within the European Union. Ursula von der Leyen has put forward a strong proposal, which seems to be gaining broad support, to create a mechanism for using these funds in a way that will avoid the legal obstacles that have so far prevented the U.S. and Europe from using them. So these $300 billion are truly crucial.

"So far, the United States has provided about $69 billion worth of weapons, plus more in economic and budget support. But just on the military side, $69 billion compared to $300 billion. This could last. This could allow the Ukrainians over the next several years both to buy weapons from the United States and to support their economy, to begin reconstruction once the fighting stops. So I think the amount of money available for weapons and reconstruction is about to go up dramatically. And there has been real progress in that direction over the past week," Taylor summarized.

• Earlier, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stated that even in the event of a ceasefire, Russia should not be allowed to reclaim its frozen assets in the European Union until it pays reparations to Ukraine.