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On 24 February 2022, the Russian armed forces launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a result of this unprovoked and unjustified aggression, substantial areas of the Ukrainian territory now constitute areas of war from which many persons are fleeing.
The EU stands united in its unwavering support to Ukraine and has stepped up its political, humanitarian, financial and military support to the country.
The European Commission is also closely cooperating with Ukraine's neighbouring countries to support them in providing protection for people fleeing the invasion.

On 20 November, President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen launched a solidarity campaign to promote and encourage the donation of school buses that are essential for bringing Ukrainian children safely back to their schools. Companies, governments and regional authorities across Europe are invited to contribute. The Commission will cover the cost of transportation of school buses to Ukraine.
Strong and comprehensive EU response
Since the start of Russia's war of aggression, the EU, its Member States and its financial institutions, in a Team Europe approach, are making available €37.8 billion to support Ukraine's overall economic, social and financial resilience. This has been in the form of macro-financial assistance, budget support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid.
In addition, military assistance measures are around €12 billion, of which €3.6 billion have been mobilised under the European Peace Facility.
This brings the total support made available so far to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's aggression to around €50 billion. Together with the resources made available to help Member States cater for needs of Ukrainians fleeing the war in the EU, the overall support to Ukraine and Ukrainians amounts to around €67 billion.
As part of the commitment made during the College-to-Government meeting and the EU-Ukraine Summit, €1 billion of EU support will be mobilised for Ukraine’s fast recovery. This is to be financed through Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation (NDICI) and European Investment Bank (EIB) loans.
- Bilateral cooperation to increase Ukraine's resilience and support reforms: €305 million
- EBRD investment guaranteed by the EU budget: €120 million
- Civil society support: €31 million
- School rehabilitation and school buses: €114 million*
- Crisis response measures: €89 million
- EU grants for blending projects: €94 million
- On-going projects adjusted to meet urgent needs on the ground: €192 million
*including €34 million from the humanitarian support

In 2022, the EU has made available €7.2 billion in EU macro-financial assistance (MFA) and €620 million in budget support. €500 million in budget support are part of the pledges from the ‘Stand up for Ukraine’ global fundraising campaign and the high level international donors conference in May to help Ukraine address urgent housing, education and farming sector needs on the ground. Overall, the support provided or guaranteed by the EU budget for the year amounted to €11.6 billion.
In 2023, in order to continue supporting Ukraine, the EU is providing an unprecedented support package of up to €18 billion, in the form of highly concessional loans. The first instalment of €3 billion was disbursed in January 2023.The Commission disbursed a further €1.5 billion on 21 March 2023.
Humanitarian aid
€668 million have been made available for humanitarian aid projects to help civilians affected by the war in Ukraine. This includes €630 million for Ukraine and €38 million for Moldova respectively, to assist people fleeing the aggression. This EU humanitarian aid provides food, water, healthcare, shelter and helps cover people's basic needs.
Also, €330 million goes to an emergency support programme that helps to secure access to basic goods and services, such as education, healthcare and food. It also helps to protect the population, both internally displaced people and of their host communities and to support small and medium enterprises and agriculture. Another important goal is to reconstruct civilian small-scale infrastructure, ensure energy security, and strengthen cyber security, media freedom and actions against disinformation. Previous on-going projects worth €192 million have been adjusted to meet urgent needs on the ground.
EU Civil Protection Mechanism
Via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, we are channelling aid to Ukraine from 32 countries - 27 EU Member States, Norway, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Iceland and Serbia. This includes life-saving supplies such as medicine, food, and shelter items, but also strategic equipment like fire engines, power generators, ambulances and mobile hospitals.

Moldova also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to support people fleeing Ukraine to their country. 19 EU Member States, plus Norway, have offered various assistance to Moldova, including shelter, hygiene kits and power generators. The Commission has also coordinated civil protection assistance for Poland, Slovakia and Czechia to help Ukrainian refugees. Poland has received support from France, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Norway via the Mechanism, receiving shelter equipment and medical supplies.
Emergency logistical hubs and rescEU aid
Due to exponential needs, we have mobilised medical supplies, temporary shelter units, and power generators, but also specialised equipment for public health risks such as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats for Ukraine via the rescEU stockpiles. With a total financial value of over €87 million, the rescEU support includes housing units, protection suits, decontaminants, ventilators, infusion pumps, patient monitors, ultrasound devices, power generators and more. The EU is coordinating medical evacuations of Ukrainian patients in urgent need of treatment, transferring over 1,970 patients to hospitals across Europe to receive specialised care thus far. An EU Medevac Hub for medical evacuations of Ukrainian patients was opened in September 2022 in Rzeszów, Poland. The hub offers a safe space for the patients arriving from Ukraine before they are transferred for treatment in a hospital in another European country.
Furthermore, the Commission has established civil protection logistical hubs in Poland, Romania and Slovakia, to distribute required aid to Ukraine as quickly as possible. These hubs will help channel the assistance being delivered via the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
Temporary protection mechanism

On 4 March 2022, the EU triggered the Temporary Protection Directive. This gives displaced people fleeing the war in Ukraine certain rights in the EU, including a residence permit, access to the labour market and suitable accommodation or housing, medical care, and access to education for children. EU countries have welcomed millions of people from Ukraine since then and have given around 4 million temporary protection. The Commission introduced maximum flexibility so that Member States can also use unspent 2014-2020 cohesion funds to support people fleeing the war. Thanks to this, up to €17 billion have been made available.
Solidarity Lanes
As part of the European Union's response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the European Commission and bordering EU Member States established on 12 May 2022 the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes. The Solidarity Lanes are essential corridors for Ukraine's agricultural exports, as well as the export and import of other goods.
Since May, the Solidarity Lanes have:
- helped export around 29 million tonnes of agricultural goods (grain, oilseeds and related products) from Ukraine, bringing Ukraine much needed revenue and allowing grain to reach those in need
- provided technical support to Ukraine, Moldova and EU countries to facilitate and speed up procedures and remove bottlenecks at the border
- led to signing of freight agreements with Ukraine and Moldova on 29 June 2022 to further facilitate transit and transport from and to both countries
To sustain and further increase the capacity of the Solidarity Lanes, the EU has been mobilising significant investments through various existing EU and national programmes. Administrative and operational facilitation needs to continue, including on streamlining border crossing procedures, and more funding is needed.
In November, the Commission urgently dedicated €250 million of grants to boost the Solidarity Lanes. For the short-term, this will support quick improvements, in particular with mobile equipment, to reduce waiting times and improve movement through the border crossing points and their access routes. In the medium-term, the Commission is mobilising the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and €50 million to support the infrastructure developments needed to further increase the capacity of the Solidarity Lanes.
The Commission, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank Group have together mobilised €1 billion for Solidarity Lanes to increase global food security and provide a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy.
Support for Ukrainian school children

The EU is supporting the rehabilitation of damaged schools in Ukraine with €100 million, including €66 million through budget support and €34 million from humanitarian funding. The European Commission has allocated around €14 million to purchase school buses that will bring Ukrainian children safely to school. The Commission has also launched an EU-wide solidarity campaign to donate school buses for Ukraine, channelled through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Support to the energy sector
In the energy sector, Ukraine’s electricity grid was synchronised to the EU. The EU will continue to support Ukraine in the energy sector, by ensuring the reverse flows of gas to the country. Ukraine will also be able to benefit from EU common purchase of gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.
The EU is providing 2,400 additional generators, on top of the 3,000 already delivered since the beginning of the war. At the request of the European Commission, around €180 million have been made available to cover the immediate needs in the energy sector under the Ukraine Energy Support Fund established by the Energy Community. The EU is also delivering 35 million LED light bulbs for Ukraine.
Support for military equipment and training
Under the European Peace Facility, €3.6 billion have been mobilised to support the delivery of military equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In addition, the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine is tackling urgent and longer-term training needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. EU military support for Ukraine – provided by the European Peace Facility and the Member States directly – is around €12 billion.
Other types of support
- The EU has suspended import duties on all Ukrainian exports to the EU and all EU anti-dumping and safeguard measures in place on steel exports for one year. It has also proposed to extend this suspension beyond June 2023.
- The Commission called upon the European telecom operators to prolong their agreement to suspend or significantly reduce any roaming charges for Ukrainians in the EU.
- In February 2023, the Commission and Ukraine signed Ukraine’s association to the Single Market Programme (SMP). This agreement will provide Ukraine with support to businesses, facilitating access to markets, favourable business environment, sustainable growth and internationalization.
- Discussions will start soon about Ukraine joining other key EU programmes such as Connecting Europe Facility, that can support Ukraine in connecting its energy, transport and digital infrastructure with the EU.
- Ukraine's association to Horizon Europe and the Euratom Research and Training Programme is a key instrument to preserve and nurture Ukraine's research and innovation ecosystem. The Commission announced it will open a new Horizon Europe Office in Kyiv by mid-2023.
- Since the beginning of the war, the EU has stepped up its immediate support to strengthen Ukraine’s cyber resilience with €10 million for equipment, software and other related support. A further €15 million from the €330 million package has been provided to support resilient digital transformation.
- The EU provides support through EU guarantees, issued by financial institutions, such as the EIB and EBRD. This should enable the Ukrainian government to lend and allows companies to offer vital services.
- The EU is also supporting the fight against impunity in Ukraine with a €7.5 million project to support the International Criminal Court investigations into war crimes committed by Russia. An EU Joint Investigation Team set up with Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania and Ukraine, is also supported by Eurojust. Find out more on holding Russia accountable
Support for future reconstruction

A major global financial effort will be required to rebuild Ukraine after the war damage. The reconstruction effort should be led by the Ukrainian authorities in close partnership with the EU and key partners, such as G7 and G20, and other third countries, as well as international financial institutions and international organisations.
The Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform was launched in January 2023 to coordinate short and longer term support by international donors and financial institutions in support of the Ukrainian economy. A technical Secretariat will support the work of the Platform; the Commission will host its Brussels office, and the government of Ukraine will host its Kyiv office. It will allow for close coordination among international donors and international financial organisations and will ensure that support is provided in a coherent, transparent, and accountable manner.
Documents
- Factsheet
- European Commission
Factsheets on EU solidarity with Ukraine
Publications explaining EU actions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine