EU says bloc’s total military aid to Ukraine reaches 43.5bn euros

“Today, our military support exceeds 43 billion [euros]. [That is] 43.5 [billion euros, to be exact],” he said following an informal meeting of defense ministers of the 27 EU member states.

At the same time, the top EU diplomat added that the association’s defense ministers had not found a solution to unblocking 6.6 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility.

Borrell also emphasized that EU countries should speed up the delivery of military aid to Ukraine. He noted that he plans to visit Ukraine in September or October, before his mandate expires.

Earlier, Borrell said the defense ministers of 27 European Union countries haven’t reached an agreement on lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-donated weapons for strikes inside Russia.

“The member states have decided that this is something that belongs to the bilateral decisions of each member state providing equipment to Ukraine,” he pointed out.

“There was a strategic discussion about it but this remains a national policy [matter] and member states want it to be a national decision on bilateral relations with Ukraine,” Borrell added.

According to the top EU diplomat, he personally supports the idea of lifting these restrictions, because, in his view, this is the way for Ukraine to defend itself in accordance with international law.

Borrell had called on European Union nations to provide Kiev with more air defense systems and lift all restrictions on the use of Western weapons for strikes inside Russia. However, he admitted that it wouldn’t be easy to send new air defense systems to Ukraine without delays.