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"The Commission proposes a new emergency macro-financial
assistance package of 1.2 billion euros," von der Leyen told
reporters in Brussels on Monday, adding the package would be
made up of both emergency loans and grants.
An estimated 100,000 Russian troops are within reach of the
Ukrainian border while Moscow waits for written responses from
Washington and NATO to its security demands.
Russia wants NATO to withdraw its promise that Ukraine can one
day join the alliance, and to pull back troops and weaponry from
former Communist countries in eastern Europe that joined it
after the Cold War.
Von der Leyen, who spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy on Friday, said the EU's financial aid package was
meant to "help Ukraine now to address its rapid escalation in
financing needs due to the conflict".
She noted she was counting on the European Council, grouping EU
governments, and EU lawmakers to approve the emergency support
as soon as possible in order to rapidly disburse a first tranche
of 600 million euros.
Von der Leyen called on international partners such as the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to follow the same approach
and renew their engagement with Ukraine.
The European Commission itself, the bloc's executive, would
almost double its bilateral assistance in grants to Kyiv this
year, adding another 120 million euros on top of the 160 million
euros already planned, she said.
Since 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea
and separatists supported by Moscow took control over eastern
Ukraine, the EU and European financial institutions have
allocated over 17 billion euros in grants and loans to the
country, according to von der Leyen.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Marine Strauss)
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