EU Commission to propose monthly package of up to 1.5 billion euros to Ukraine for 2023

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told President Volodymyr Zelensky on Nov. 6 that support would contribute to covering Ukraine's needs in 2023.

The package, totaling up to 18 billion euros, will cover part of the country's state deficit through long-term loans, von der Leyen said after the call with Zelensky.

"The support in the form of highly concessional long-term loans, with coverage of the interest costs, would also work to support Ukraine's reforms and its path towards EU membership," the European Commission statement reads.

On Nov. 3, the Ukrainian parliament approved the 2023 budget with a record deficit of $38 billion. The country's spending is expected to double its earnings in 2023.

"The war is expensive. Very expensive," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said prior to the final vote.

Shmyhal added that Ukraine aimed to receive $1 billion from the European Union and $1.5 billion from the U.S each month to help secure $42 billion in foreign financial aid in 2023 to "completely cover the deficit" and help form "an additional security cushion."

In her September interview with the Kyiv Independent, von der Leyen said covering Ukraine's budget deficit in full "will be tough, (...) but it is, of course, doable."

Von der Leyen: ‘I'm deeply convinced that Ukraine will win this war’

The Kyiv Independent