The EU will support Ukraine with 160 million euros ($178 million) ahead of winter to improve the country's resilience to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sept. 19.
Close to 100 million euros ($111 million) of the funding comes from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets in the EU, von der Leyen said.
"Russia must pay for the destruction it caused," von der Leyen said.
Russia launched nine coordinated attacks against Ukraine's electricity infrastructure between March and the end of August, striking facilities in 20 oblasts and destroying around 9 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity.
Around 60 million euros ($67 million) of the EU aid will go toward humanitarian aid such as shelters and heaters. 100 million euros ($111 million) will be spent on repairing energy infrastructure and developing renewable energy.
EU ambassadors agreed on May 8 to use the windfall profits from the frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's reconstruction and defense needs. Kyiv is expected to receive roughly 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) every year, according to earlier discussions.
Martin Fornusek
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