The EU Council on Dec. 12 agreed to increase its European Peace Facility defense fund used to purchase weapons for Ukraine by 2 billion euros.
The council said that the increase for the 2023 fund has “the possibility of a further increase at a later stage” and rounded up its total budget until 2027 to 5.5 billion euros.
“Today’s decision will ensure that we have the funding to continue delivering concrete military support to our partners’ armed forces,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
Using European Peace Facility, the EU has thus far provided Ukraine with its critically needed military equipment to defend itself from Russia’s brutal invasion. According to the statement, the defense fund’s annual budget varies from €420 million in 2021 to €1.132 billion in 2027.
However, despite Kyiv's months-long plea, Ukraine has not received all the equipment on its wish list, including the high-tech Patriot air defense system.
The transfer of such weapons requires a green light from NATO allies.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said that the decision to provide the Patriot air defense system depends on “specific nations.”
Berlin had rejected Warsaw’s proposal to send Patriot units to Ukraine, with German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht saying that such equipment is “intended to be deployed on NATO territory.”
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