Ukraine receives about EUR 50 billion in aid from EU countries - European Council President Michel

President of the European Council Charles Michel said this at a press conference in Brussels after the signing of the EU-NATO Declaration.

“For the first time in our history, we provided lethal military weapons to Ukraine through the European Peace Fund just a few hours after the (full-scale - ed.) war began. So far, we have allocated more than EUR 3 billion for this - in addition to large-scale military revenues from member countries. We are united in supporting Ukraine, providing it with diplomatic, financial and political support. The EU and its member states together provided about EUR 50 billion in aid,” said the President of the European Council.

He also noted the rapprochement of countries that are part of the EU and NATO, and granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership.

“The Russian Federation's war against Ukraine shocked both our organizations and brought us closer together. We became stronger. NATO increased its presence in Eastern Europe and in Sweden and Finland. Putin wanted to see less NATO, but he achieved the opposite result - he got more NATO and will have more EU.  We are speeding up the process of expansion in the Western Balkans and have taken a historic decision - granting the status of candidate countries to Ukraine and Moldova and European perspective - to Georgia,” said Michel.

• The head of the European Council previously stated the need to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Security Council