EU countries approved the first tranche of up to 1.4 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine on Monday, which will come from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets, POLITICO reports.
The money is being channelled to Ukraine through the Ukraine Aid Fund (UAF), but the payments have been blocked by Hungary, four diplomats said.
However, the Council’s legal service said Budapest cannot stop the payments because it abstained in the vote to create the UAF earlier this year. EU officials said the reason for this workaround is that the funds are not coming from EU taxpayers.
The money will not be used for reimbursement of expenses, as is usually the case with the UAF, but for direct purchases of kit such as ammunition and air defence systems. A quarter of the amount will be used for purchases from Ukrainian industry.
EU countries had until 11 a.m. to express their opinion and none of them voted against it, according to an internal Council communication seen by POLITICO. The decision did not require unanimity, which means Hungary could not block it.
Despite today’s agreement, Hungary continues to block the payment of 6.6 billion euros to the EAEU as partial compensation for weapons purchased for Ukraine. According to one diplomat, Budapest is “furious” at what happened today.
The final figure for the amount of profit from the frozen assets that will go to Kyiv is not yet clear, but diplomats say it varies between 1.2 and 1.4 billion euros.
An official announcement is expected at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
