The European Union agreed Thursday to provide Ukraine with a major financial support package to help bolster an economy that has been ravaged by two years of fighting against Russian invaders, with lone holdout Hungary unexpectedly dropping its opposition to the move at the last minute.
The leaders of the 27 members of the European bloc meeting in Brussels approved the roughly $54 billion package to bolster Ukraine’s economy. Supporters of the plan were able to convince Hungarian President Viktor Orban, whose country has extensive energy ties to Russia, to drop his threat to veto the move.
European Council President Charles Michel announced the aid package during a summit he was chairing in Brussels.
“We have a deal. [The] EU is taking leadership and responsibility in support for Ukraine. We know what is at stake,” Mr. Michel said on social media. “This locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine.”
Mr. Michel told reporters the breakthrough would also send “a signal to the American taxpayers,” helping the Biden administration in its efforts to get a Ukraine support package through Congress.
Conservative resistance to the idea has grown on Capitol Hill, and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced a showdown vote on the package will be held next week.
President Biden in a statement released by the White House commended the EU’s “steadfast support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russian aggression and fulfill the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of its citizens.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also welcomed the EU vote as a sign that Western support for the country remains stout.
“It sends a strong signal that Ukraine will withstand any challenges, as will Europe,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “Europe sets the tone for global affairs through its unity. This is already a fact and it must remain this way.”
Both the Biden administration and leaders of the NATO alliance are likely to applaud the move, at a time when Western public and political enthusiasm for the war have fallen significantly and the fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine has devolved into a grinding war of attrition.
Mr. Orban said he agreed to sign the EU assistance package after receiving assurances for what he called the “reasonable use of the money.”
“We received a guarantee that Hungary’s funds cannot go to Ukraine. After a long negotiation, we accepted this offer,” Mr. Orban said. “Our position on the war in Ukraine remains unchanged. We need a cease-fire and peace talks.”
But other EU leaders were critical of the Hungarian’s long holdout, which forced a delay on a previous vote on the aid package in December. Many insisted that Budapest had been offered no concessions in the discussions over dropping its opposition.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters in Brussels, “Nobody can blackmail 26 countries of the EU. Our values were not for sale.”
While Mr. Zelenskyy and his government have lobbied vigorously for military aid and support from NATO and other allies, the economic aid in the EU package could provide critical support on the economic home front for Kyiv. The Russian invasion and occupation of significant swaths of Ukrainian territory in the east and south has cut economic output in Ukraine by a third, with much of the country’s heavy industry base now in Russian hands.
While the Ukrainian economy has recovered a bit this year, the national government faces a huge deficit and is struggling to pay pensions and salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses and state employees, the Associated Press reported.
— This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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