Ukraine secures €35 billion EU loan as part of historic aid package

Ukraine has formalized a significant loan agreement with the European Union (EU) to secure €35 billion in macro-financial assistance.

“The Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Serhiy Marchenko, signed a memorandum of understanding and a credit agreement between Ukraine and the EU to attract up to €35 billion in macro-financial assistance,” the Ukrainian Finance Ministry announced on its website, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

This funding is part of the Group of Seven (G7) initiative under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) emergency lending program, which aims to bolster Ukraine’s financial stability amid ongoing conflict.

In addition to the macro-financial assistance, the EU has allocated €26.4 million to support Ukraine's most vulnerable populations during the challenging winter of 2024-2025.

A statement from the EU Delegation in Ukraine highlighted the worsening humanitarian situation due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, leaving millions of Ukrainians, especially internally displaced persons, without adequate heating.

Out of the total winter aid, €17.5 million has been entrusted to the UN Refugee Agency for targeted relief efforts. This includes:

• Providing solid fuel for heating to 57,000 Ukrainian households without centralized heating or gas.
• Financial support for heating costs to 71,000 households in frontline regions.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance the sustainability of Ukraine’s energy system. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken formalized the agreement at NATO headquarters.

The memorandum outlines U.S. assistance of up to $825 million, which will focus on:

• Restoring critical energy infrastructure.
• Implementing distributed generation technologies.
• Reforming Ukraine’s energy sector.
• Transitioning to a low-carbon, competitive, and European-integrated energy economy.

“This document establishes the legal framework for strengthening the resilience of Ukraine’s energy sector,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated.

On November 28, Ukraine had already received €18.1 billion under the ERA initiative. The Finance Ministry noted that the final amount of assistance will be confirmed once loans from all contributing parties are finalized.

In October, the EU approved a €35 billion macro-financial assistance package as part of a broader G7 loan initiative totalling €45 billion. The loans, with a repayment period of 45 years, are to be funded by proceeds from the reinvestment of Russia's frozen assets in the EU. According to the European Commission (EC), approximately €220 billion of Russian assets remain blocked in the EU.

Russia has strongly opposed these financial measures. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, warned of a severe response if the proceeds from Russian assets are allocated to Ukraine.

Since the start of hostilities, approximately $280 billion (€260 billion) of Russian assets have been frozen across G7 and EU nations, as well as in Australia, with a significant portion held by the Belgian financial group Euroclear.

By Tamilla Hasanova