The European Union wants to create a new fund for military aid to Ukraine, Polish website money.pl reported.

The creation of the fund will be discussed by ambassadors of EU member states on Tuesday, the fund may be established this year, the publication said.

It is noted that the main goal of creating this fund is "to meet Ukraine's most pressing defence needs, such as artillery ammunition, air defence systems and support for the Ukrainian defence industry."

According to the publication, the fund should be filled from two sources: contributions from member states, which will be proportional to their national income, that is, taken into account on the same principle as contributions to the EU budget, as well as profits from frozen Russian assets, estimated to be up to 900 million euros this year.

It is noted that the new initiative provides for a "flexible approach to spending funds" aimed at "respecting the status of some EU countries, for example, those that maintain neutrality in military matters."

Among the priority areas of the fund's activities are the supply of large-caliber artillery ammunition (at least 1.5 million shells), the supply of air defence systems and long-range missiles, training and equipping the Ukrainian army.

It is emphasised that participation in the initiative should be voluntary, since past experience shows that otherwise some EU states, such as Hungary, could veto it.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves, approximately 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion euros are in the EU, mostly in the accounts of the Belgium's Euroclear, one of the world's largest clearing and settlement systems.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU is targeting not just private funds, but also Russian state assets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would respond to the confiscation of frozen Russian assets by the West and also had the opportunity not to return the funds that Western countries kept in Russia.

Russia believes that arms supply to Ukraine hinder the settlement, directly involving NATO countries in the conflict.

Sputnik

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