Skip to main content
EU Solidarity with Ukraine

EU assistance to Ukraine

This information is also available in: Ukrainian | українська | Russian | русский

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 €38.8 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 €25 billion, of which €5.6 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 €64 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 €81 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.

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, of which €13.5 billion has already been disbursed.

Humanitarian aid and civil protection

32 countries
have offered their assistance
Over 95 800 tonnes
of in-kind assistance have been shipped to Ukraine

In 2022, the EU mobilised €330 million for an emergency support programme that helped secure access to basic goods and services, such as education, healthcare and food. It has also helped to protect the population, both internally displaced people and 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.

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 €127 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 2 600 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.

On 21 April 2023, Ukraine became a participating state of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, the European solidarity framework that helps countries overwhelmed by a disaster.

Temporary protection mechanism

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 2022, the Solidarity Lanes have:

  • helped export around 53 million tonnes of agricultural goods (grain, oilseeds and related products) and over 42 million tonnes of non-agricultural products (ores, iron and steel, earths, wood) from Ukraine, bringing Ukraine much needed revenue for Ukrainian farmers and businesses
  • 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 2022, the Commission urgently dedicated €250 million of grants to boost the Solidarity Lanes. For the short-term, this supported support quick improvements, in particular with mobile equipment, to reduce waiting times and improve movement through the border crossing points and their access routes. The Commission is also 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.

More information on EU-Ukraine Solidarity lanes

Support for Ukrainian school children

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 has provided 2 500 additional generators, on top of the 3 000 already delivered since the beginning of the war. At the request of the European Commission, around €220 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, €5.6 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 €20 billion.

In addition, upon proposal by the Commission, the Council and the Parliament have adopted in July 2023 the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), aimed at urgently deliver ammunition and missiles to Ukraine and help Member States refill their stocks. By introducing targeted measures including financing, the Act aims at ramping up the EU's production capacity and addressing the current shortage of ammunition and missiles as well as their components.

The framework laid down by this new Regulation includes:

  • An instrument to financially support the reinforcement of the Union's industrial production capacities for the relevant defence products;
  • A mechanism to map, monitor and better anticipate the existence of bottlenecks in these supply chains;
  • The introduction of a temporary regulatory framework to address the ammunition supply shortage.

Other types of support

  • In May 2023, the EU renewed the suspension of all customs duties, quotas and trade defence measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year, until June 2024.
  • 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.
  • In June 2023, the EU and Ukraine signed an agreement associating Ukraine to the Connecting Europe Facility programme. This will enable Ukrainian project promoters to apply for EU funding in transport, energy and digital realms, further improving Ukraine's connectivity with its EU neighbours.
  • 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 €19 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

Ukraine public administration building

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.

Read more on the reconstruction of Ukraine

This page was last updated on 22 August 2023.

Documents

24 MARCH 2023
Updated Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction Needs Assessment
English
(6.03 KB - HTML)
Download