The European Union finance ministers on Friday endorsed providing a further €5 billion in aid for Ukraine to help the country continue to fight off Russia’s invasion.

“It’s excellent news that ministers have endorsed the next part of our exceptional macro-financial assistance program,” said EU Commission Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Prague.

The European Commission proposed raising the sum on the capital markets, with interest and fees to be paid from the EU budget.

“EU ministers are ready to provide national guarantees to make 5 billion euros available in loans,” Mr Dombrovskis wrote on Twitter.

However, the sum proposed is part of an aid package worth €9 billion, which was announced in May.

Meanwhile, the latest instalment still requires the approval of the European Parliament, although this is seen as a formality, of that sum, €1 billion was disbursed in early August.

The commission borrows on capital markets on the EU’s behalf in order to finance the macro-financial assistance (MFA), as it is formally known.

According to the commission in a statement, the MFA operations are an EU crisis response instrument available to countries neighbouring the EU that were experiencing severe balance-of-payments problems.

Alongside the MFA, the EU provides other forms of support to Ukraine including humanitarian aid, budget support and technical assistance.

“Obviously, we need to think how we further support Ukraine,” said Mr Dombrovskis.

Ukrainian Justice Minister, Denys Maliuska, said his country was seeking over $300 billion in war reparations from Russia.

Damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure caused by the Russian invasion is estimated to be far higher than the amount cited by Mr Maliuska.

(dpa/NAN)