EU approves third tranche of €3.5 billion for Ukraine

The Council of the European Union has approved the third tranche of financial assistance to Ukraine, amounting to nearly 3.5 billion euros, under the Ukraine Facility instrument, the Council said on March 17.

“Ukraine will soon receive approximately 3.5 billion euros after the Council (EU) approved the third disbursement of non-refundable grants and loans to Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility program. Thanks to this third payment, Ukraine will receive about 20 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility since it entered into force a year ago,” the European institution stated, Caliber.Az reports via Ukrainian media.

The Ukraine Facility instrument aims to support Ukraine's macroeconomic stability, recovery, reconstruction, and modernization.

"Today, the EU Council concluded that Ukraine has fulfilled the necessary conditions set out in the Plan of Ukraine to receive the third payment from the Ukraine Facility," the statement noted.

According to the EU Council, "Ukraine has successfully demonstrated that it has taken 13 different steps." These include reforms to boost the use of renewable energy, increasing the autonomy of the energy regulator, simplifying border crossing procedures in line with EU standards, adopting a strategy for agricultural and rural development (including demining agricultural land), and continuing work on the list of its strategic and critical raw materials.

The Plan of Ukraine outlines the country’s recovery, reconstruction, and modernization objectives, as well as the schedule of reforms Ukraine intends to implement as part of the EU accession process over the next four years.

The Ukraine Facility program, which took effect on March 1, 2024, provides up to 50 billion euros in stable funding through grants and loans to support Ukraine’s recovery efforts from 2024 to 2027. Of this amount, up to 32 billion euros is tentatively allocated to reforms and investments specified in the Plan of Ukraine, with payments contingent on Ukraine meeting pre-established conditions.

Since the program's inception, Ukraine has already received 6 billion euros in transitional financing, 1.89 billion euros in pre-financing, and two previous tranches of approximately 4.2 billion euros and 4.1 billion euros.

By Khagan Isayev