shop now
Ukraine will receive 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in Russian frozen assets revenue in July and 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) under the Ukraine Facility already this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on June 11.
"We have always said that Russia must be held accountable for its crimes, and now we make Russia pay," von der Leyen said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin.
The EU Council agreed on May 21 to use profits from the frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine. The proceedings could amount to between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros ($2.7-3.26 billion) annually, with most of it allocated to Kyiv's military needs.
EU officials previously said that Ukraine could receive the first tranche already this summer. Ukraine's Western partners and other allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The EU also agreed earlier this year to allocate 33 billion euros ($36 billion) in loans and 17 billion euros ($18 billion) in grants to Ukraine under the four-year Ukraine Facility program.
Kyiv already received two pre-financing "bridge" tranches under the assistance plan: 4.5 billion euros ($4.8 billion) in March and 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in April.
According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Kyiv should receive 16 billion euros ($17.4 billion) through the program in 2024.
Speaking at the conference, von der Leyen said that the matter of how to best funnel proceeds from Russian assets to Ukraine will be discussed also at the Group of Seven conference in Italy later this week.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
