EU to activate emergency aid mechanism for Ukraine

The European Union will activate a special emergency assistance mechanism to help Ukraine with electricity, water and heat supplies.

This was posted on Facebook by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

He said he had spoken with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“Right now, many of our cities and communities are facing a very difficult situation with power, water, and heating supplies due to Russian strikes. The situation is most difficult in Kyiv, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Donetsk regions, and Kherson,” he said.

“I told Ursula about the challenges, and we agreed that the European Union would activate a special emergency mechanism. This will make it possible to quickly provide Ukraine with funding for what is needed most right now. Our teams are already working on this,” Zelensky stressed.

He added that the two sides had also discussed additional energy and humanitarian assistance to help Ukraine prepare for winter, as well as European integration issues.

This week, the European Commission published its annual EU Enlargement Package, which gave a positive assessment of Ukraine’s progress. It is important to open all negotiating clusters and begin closing chapters, the President said.

“Of course,” Zelensky stressed, “we also discussed diplomacy. In recent days, talks were held in Brussels, where our teams did a good job working on a recovery plan and security guarantees from Europe. Ursula and I also coordinated our positions regarding the meeting in Abu Dhabi. We are doing everything to ensure that the trilateral format delivers results.”

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine currently generates more electricity than it consumes, but, unfortunately, there are significant power deficits caused specifically by Russian strikes.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine