Weekly Update #142
November 18, 2024

General Figures

Refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe 

6,191,800

Last updated October 15 2024

Covers those granted refugee status, temporary asylum status, temporary protection, or statuses through similar national protection schemes, as well as those recorded in the country under other forms of stay 

Refugees from Ukraine recorded beyond Europe

560,200

Last updated October 15 2024

Covers those granted refugee status, temporary asylum status, temporary protection, or statuses through similar national protection schemes, as well as those recorded in the country under other forms of stay 

Refugees from Ukraine recorded globally

6,752,000

Last updated October 15 2024

Estimated number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine (as of Aug 2024)

3,669,000

Source: UNHCR collation of statistics made available by the authorities

Source: OCHA

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UNHCR provides targeted winter cash support together with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund of Ukraine

UNHCR, in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund of Ukraine, is supporting the most vulnerable households in Ukraine to get through this winter by providing cash assistance for solid fuel and other heating costs.

This cooperation is based on Resolution No. 1169 adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 15 October this year and anchored in an Agreement signed between the Ministry of Social Policy, the Pension Fund, and UNHCR on 28 October, and is made possible thanks to the generous support of our donors, including France, Norway, the European Union and the United States of America.

As the winter season approaches, vulnerable people across Ukraine will face increased hardships due to the ongoing brutal war and rising costs of living. The joint efforts will provide additional financial support to vulnerable households who do not have access to centralized heating or cannot rely on gas, for the purchase of solid household fuel to heat their homes during the coldest months.

The programme aims to reach 57,000 households across the country with the assistance transferred directly to their bank accounts. The identification of eligible recipients will be done by the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund, and verified by UNHCR. 

“As the winter months approach, it is crucial that we provide additional support to the most vulnerable, especially pensioners, people with disabilities and low-income families particularly affected by the ongoing war and Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. Together with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund of Ukraine, we are ensuring that no one is left to face these challenges alone. This cash assistance will be vital in helping families stay warm and get through the coming winter with dignity,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s Representative in Ukraine.

Source: UNHCR

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Health Cluster Parenters emergency response to recent attacks

• In October 2024, the escalation seen in September persisted, with air strikes and drone attacks doubling in frequency compared to previous months. This severely impacted civilian areas and critical infrastructure, intensifying humanitarian needs. Rescue personnel continue to be targeted, marking a deeply concerning trend in the ongoing conflict. In one month, at least three incidents have been recorded, highlighting the increasing risks faced by those involved in emergency response efforts. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) recorded at least 183 civilians were killed and 903 injured in Ukraine in October.

• Intensified hostilities led to an increase in displacement from frontline areas in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions. In October, IOM Frontline Flow Monitoring recorded about 4,100 displaced people from hromadas affected by intensified hostilities in Kharkivska oblast. The highest displacement spike occurred between October 14 and 20, with over 1,200 people passing through the Kharkiv City transit center due to expanded evacuation orders. In Donetska oblast, from October 16 to 30, another 1,700 people were displaced from the Pokrovska hromada area. In response, some 16 Health Cluster partners, in collaboration with local authorities, provided essential health and mental health services at five transit centers, reaching over 4,000 displaced people.

• Partners including UN agencies, the Global Red Cross Movement, local and international NGOs, have worked in close collaboration with the Ukraine Ministry of Health and local authorities to support the immediate delivery of emergency medical services and primary health care including mental health support to people affected by the attacks.

• As of 15th November 2024, Health Cluster partners complemented the efforts of first responders, to reach an estimated 9,039 persons with rapid humanitarian health assistance.

• Through WHO as cluster lead agency and the WHO SSA platform, the Health Cluster team verified 413 attacks on health care in Ukraine from 29 December 2023 to 15 November 2024. These attacks resulted in 65 deaths and 378 injuries of health care workers and patients.

• Since the escalation of the country-wide conflict in February 2022, the Health Cluster team through the WHO SSA has verified 2,134 attacks on health care, with 197 deaths, and 670 injuries. Attacks on health care negatively impact the delivery of health services to the entire population, disrupting humanitarian health assistance, and undermining the capacity of health workers to provide health care.

• Between January and October 2024, Health Cluster partners have provided 2,444,436 people with lifesaving and life-sustaining health care in eastern, north-eastern and southern oblasts bordering the frontline.

• While humanitarian access has reduced in Kharkivska, Donetska, and Khersonska, the Health Cluster coordinates the health partner response, supporting the efforts of first responders and local health authorities.

Source: Health Cluster, WHO

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UNICEF Provides 270,000 Doses of the Tetanus-Diphtheria Vaccine

UNICEF has delivered 270,000 doses of the Tetanus-Diphtheria (Td) vaccine to ensure the uninterrupted availability of vaccines for routine immunization.

The vaccines were purchased with funds from the Government of France and provided at the request of Ukraine's Ministry of Health.

“The war can lead to an increased spread of infections,” said Mr. John Marks, UNICEF Ukraine Deputy Representative for Operations. UNICEF continues procuring and delivering vaccines to protect children and adults from vaccine-preventable diseases, added Marks.

Adults are advised to receive a Td booster (tetanus and diphtheria) every ten years throughout their lives. If you cannot remember your last vaccination date or do not have access to your vaccination records, consult your doctor to arrange for vaccination. Vaccination against diphtheria and tetanus is free of charge.

"Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Ministry of Health, including through cooperation with international partners, has ensured an uninterrupted supply of vaccines for routine immunization across every region,”  stated Ihor Kuzin, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister and Chief State Sanitary Doctor. “This allows newborns to receive all mandatory vaccinations in maternity hospitals, and children and adults to receive them at medical facilities or during outreach sessions conducted by vaccination teams in communities. Schools and other organized groups that children attend should be safe for everyone. Therefore, if recommended vaccinations have been missed, for instance, due to relocation to another city, parents should contact the nearest medical facility or family doctor to catch up. This is a matter of individual protection for every child against diseases that can be prevented by vaccination.”

The Td vaccine can be administered during pregnancy. It is safe and provides effective protection against the diseases, which is important given the low vaccination coverage for diphtheria in the country and the increased risk of injuries and tetanus infections during wartime.

Throughout 2024, at the request of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, UNICEF also procured 350,000 doses of the DPT vaccine (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus), 340,000 doses of the oral polio vaccine, 403,200 doses of Omicron-specific vaccines against COVID-19, 52,800 doses of Pfizer’s pediatric coronavirus vaccine, and 108,200 doses of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella). These efforts were supported by the Government of Japan, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi).

UNICEF is collaborating with USAID, the World Bank, and the COVAX initiative to modernize Ukraine’s cold chain infrastructure. Currently, around 95 percent of healthcare facilities in Ukraine are equipped with modern cold chain systems and electronic monitors to track vaccine storage temperatures, ensuring reliable and effective vaccine storage across the country. 

Source: UNICEF

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Nurses help drive home visiting programme for children in Ukraine

Thanks to a fleet of new cars donated to medical institutions across Ukraine, nurses are able to support children and newborns living in remote areas.

The first three years of life are crucial for a child's healthy development. It is during this period that children's brains, nervous systems and immunity are formed. Home visiting services can help to reduce risks to babies and young children and effectively change the trajectory of a child's life.

The programme makes it easier for young children and their families to access quality health, nutrition and development services in the first three years of life and is fully comprehensive.

The Home visiting programme is implemented by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine together with UNICEF, with the support of the Government of Japan, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German Development Bank (KFW), and Citibank.

Home visiting nurses work in the city of Kyiv and across Ukraine: in Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Chernihiv and Odesa regions, where nurses from almost 200 primary healthcare facilities provided home-based primary care services to more than 12,000 of children from 0 to 3 yo and more than 22,000 caregivers.

Source: UNICEF

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MSF provides holistic care for people with war injuries

Since the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people with long-term injuries requiring complex care in Ukraine.

These include people with blast injuries, shrapnel wounds and limb amputations, all of whom require intensive, specialised care. Since the escalation, some 300,000 people have been registered as living with physical disabilities, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy. The increased demand for early rehabilitation services has put extra strain on the country’s healthcare system. In response, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched an early rehabilitation project at Cherkasy hospital, in central Ukraine, in March 2023. The project integrates physiotherapy, psychological support and nursing care to address the complex needs of war-wounded patients early recovery process.

“All injuries take time” is a sentiment that resonates deeply for both medical staff and patients at Cherkasy hospital, and for each group it holds a special meaning. For physiotherapists, it points to the significance of each minute spent on exercises and techniques immediately after surgery. For psychologists, it emphasises the value of timely counselling sessions and emotional support. For patients, it alludes to the fact that the healing process, both physical and emotional, is a journey that requires time and resilience.

Many of the injuries treated in Cherkasy hospital are blast-related, and the number of patients with limb amputations is on the rise. “Patients come with severe leg injuries from stepping on landmines or with shrapnel injuries,” says MSF physiotherapy activity manager Blanche Daillet. “The war has created a ‘physical trauma epidemic’.”

When patients reach MSF’s early rehabilitation department, often they have been treated at two or three hospitals already. In addition to the patients’ primary injuries, MSF staff frequently encounter complications like muscle atrophy and joint stiffness. This is because surgeons often prioritise tissue integrity and the wound-healing process, which can take the focus away from restoring functionality to limbs, despite this being necessary for patients’ effective rehabilitation.

“Imagine caring for patients who have undergone 20, 30 or even 40 surgeries in a short timespan,” says MSF mental health supervisor Vitalii Pavlieiev. “These patients need support from nurses and psychologists. One patient was being prepared for a leg amputation, which the surgeons could not avoid. Our psychologists worked with him to help him accept the procedure. After the surgery, we shifted our focus to managing phantom pain.”

Sleep disorders, panic attacks and pain syndromes – particularly phantom pain following amputation – are common among MSF's patients.

Patients’ mindsets and the support they receive from family and friends all play a critical part in their successful recovery, according to MSF’s mental health team. As well as providing patients with one-to-one psychological support, the team also conduct group sessions and work with patients’ families.

Through early rehabilitation, MSF aims to improve patients' quality of life, stabilise their emotional state, reduce pain and prevent the long-term complications frequently associated with severe injuries, including the risks of infection and muscle atrophy. Ultimately, this approach supports patients in regaining independence, enabling those with severe injuries to care for themselves.

Despite the clear advantages of a multidisciplinary approach to rehabilitative care, implementing it within Ukrainian hospitals is challenging, as currently too few staff are qualified in the relevant fields. But this is likely to change in the coming years, says MSF emergency coordinator Thomas Marchese.

To tackle the large gap between people’s high needs and the limited numbers of qualified staff, MSF suggests making the best use of the resources available and trying to reach as many patients as possible. MSF is working closely with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and other partners to expand its approach in Cherkasy to more regions, with the aim of lessening the lasting impact of war injuries on people across Ukraine.

Source: MSF

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EU and UNDP restore Serhiivskyi Lyceum in Odesa Oblast, enabling students from 12 communities to attend school in person

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with financial support from the European Union (EU), has rebuilt a forty-second educational facility under the “EU4UASchools: Build Back Better” project, aimed at restoring war-damaged schools across Ukraine. Serhiivskyi Lyceum is the first of three educational facilities in Odesa Oblast planned for retrofitting as part of the project.

While schools in nearby villages were forced to close due to the security situation, Serhiivskyi Lyceum, equipped with a shelter, has been providing in-person learning during the whole period since the full-scale invasion. Currently, more than 40 children from 11 neighbouring communities, deprived of access to education, are enrolled at the Lyceum.

Since 2022, the school has suffered several times from blast waves and shelling affecting the roof, walls and third-floor classrooms. As a result, the students were studying in half-destroyed premises.

The work to reconstruct Serhiivskyi Lyceum has included partially replacing the roof, windows and doors, and retrofitting the porch and facade. Classrooms, cabinets and toilets in one wing of the third floor have been fully repaired. The heating system has been renovated and LED lighting has been installed all over the school.

All these efforts were conducted following the Build Back Better principle. This approach pays close attention to safety, inclusivity, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency standards. In addition to the repairs, Serhiivskyi Lyceum was re-equipped with new desks, chairs, blackboards and bookcases.

Jaco Cilliers, UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine, has highlighted the core principle for UNDP of leaving no one behind and the project priority of ensuring that children in Ukraine have access to education. “Our joint efforts under the EU4UASchools project have already returned more than 14,000 students and teachers to school. It is always a great delight to see how happy children, parents and educators are when entering refurbished facilities,” he said.

The school was renovated as part of the “EU4UASchools: Build Back Better” project, which is being implemented by UNDP in Ukraine, with financial support from the EU.

The project is intended to facilitate light repairs of 66 and re-equip 112 educational facilities in 11 oblasts of Ukraine: Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Odesa, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Lviv, Kirovohrad and Poltava.

Specific repairs are being made to damaged buildings – selected in consultation with Ukraine’s Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development – including light and medium repair works at schools with damage rates of or below 60 percent. Renovations include installation of new windows, repairs of roofs and sanitary facilities, reconstruction of shelters, and other urgent and critical work.

Source: UNDP

Source: OHCHR

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Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?

Ukraine’s military say the hottest fighting along the roughly 640-mile frontline is taking place along multiple points in Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces defending the eastern region of Donetsk are heading into the “moment of maximum tension” as Russian forces rush to take territory across Ukraine ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next year, war monitors have claimed.

Mr. Trump’s comprehensive victory in the US election, which came off the back of his promises to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, has brought into sharp relief the difficult situation on the frontline for Kyiv.

Russian forces have continued to make gains in the eastern region of Donetsk, advancing along several fronts towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider area’s defence.

Moscow has also mobilised thousands of North Korean soldiers to push back the Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Kursk, with some success.

And in the Kharkiv region, Russian forces are also staging an attack on the city of Kupiansk, which is key to that area’s wider defence.

Whether or not either Ukraine or Vladimir Putin will accept those concessions is also unclear - many say it is unlikely - but the incentive for Russia to seize as much territory as possible is self-evident.

Russia’s months-long attack in the direction of Pokrovsk has led to Moscow capturing more than 300 square miles of territory since seizing the city of Avdiivka in February.

It has come at great cost, with western intelligence officials estimating Russia has suffered its highest monthly military personnel losses in the past few months since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Sir Tony Radakin, the UK chief of the defence staff, put the figure at around 1,500 casualties a day.

Nevertheless, a wide bulge can now be seen protruding from the Russian frontline into Ukrainian-held territory of the Donetsk region, towards Pokrovsk.

The region makes up one half of the area known as Donbas – the other half is Luhansk, which is almost entirely controlled by Russia – and has been the site of fighting between Russia and Ukraine since 2014.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his desire to control the entire Donbas.

The Centre for Defence Strategies (CDS), a Ukrainian security think tank, says the upcoming battle for Pokrovsk will be “the climax of the enemy’s offensive operations” this calendar year.

In its latest update, Ukraine’s military said there were more than 40 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk direction in the last 24 hours.

Immediately to the south, at the bottom of the bulge, there were a further 45attacks in the Kurakhove direction.

Russia’s defence ministry, meanwhile, claimed they had taken control of the town of Voznesenka, days after taking the nearby Kreminna Balka. Both villages are just north of Kurakhove.

While DeepState, a Ukrainian war monitor with close ties to the Ukrainian defence ministry, said Voznesenka remains in the grey zone, where neither side is in control of the town, they acknowledged that Russia are advancing in that area.

They reported on Thursday that Russian forces had also taken the town of Illinka, directly above Kurakhove.

In the past month, after the fall of Vuhledar, the Russians have also pushed nearly 10 miles towards the settlements of Maksymivka and Trudove. There were 10R This has created a S-shaped frontline in Donetsk, in which the bulge towards Pokrovsk is followed by a dent around Kurakhove, followed by a secondary bulge.

Concerns abound that the shape of these attacks now leaves Ukrainian forces fighting in Kurakhove at risk of being encircled.

In the city of Kupiansk, in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, Kyiv denied that Russian forces had entered its northern outskirts.

Kupiansk was seized by Moscow's forces in the early days of their February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a rapid counter-offensive months later. In recent months, the area has seen an upsurge of activity by Russian forces.

A Russian-installed official said earlier that Moscow’s forces were gaining a foothold on the outskirts of the city.

Their effectiveness has come under question for several reasons, not in the least because they lack any combat experience and there remains a language barrier with their Russian counterparts, but US secretary of state Anthony Blinken reported the Pyongyang forces have been heavily-armed.

Last week, Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in small-scale fighting for the first time, which amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the war, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

He added that he anticipates around five North Korean units, each with approximately 3,000 soldiers, will be stationed in the Kursk region.

Kyiv’s forces launched the daring cross-border assault into Kursk on 6 August, capturing hundreds of square miles of territory, but in recent weeks have lost ground on the western side of the attack.

The main city of Sudzha, on the eastern side of the attack, remains in Ukrainian hands. It is believed to be a key target for the Russian forces.

Source: The Independent

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Impact of the Ukraine war on Russia

The Kremlin's recent economic policies indicate that the Russian economy will likely face significant challenges in 2025 and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is worried about Russia's economic stability in the long term. 

The Kremlin recently adopted several policies that aim to cut Russian government spending on wounded Russian servicemen, combat inflation, and address long-term demographic problems such as low birth rates and labor shortages. These policies demonstrate that the Russian economy is not as resilient to Western sanctions, monetary constraints, and the cost of the war effort as the Russian government postures. These policies also demonstrate that the Kremlin will not be able to sustain the protracted war effort for years and decades to come while shielding Russian society from economic challenges. Consistent Western and international support for Ukraine's resistance on the battlefield will further exacerbate Russia's economic problems.

Putin modified compensation promised for Russian servicemen wounded while fighting in Ukraine — a clear indicator that the Kremlin is trying to cut the mounting short- and long-term costs of the war and restore balance to the Russian economy. Putin controversially changed Russian policy guaranteeing a one-time payment of three million rubles ($30,124) to all Russian servicemen who have been wounded in combat in Ukraine since March 2022. Putin signed a decree on November 13 that restricted the one-time payments of three million rubles only to servicemen who sustained serious injuries in combat, only offering one million rubles ($10,152) to lightly wounded servicemen, and 100,000 rubles ($1,015) to servicemen who sustained minor injuries on the battlefield.

Financial incentives became the key pillar of the Russian military's recruitment campaign and personnel retention efforts over the past nearly three years, and the reversal of such incentives indicates that the system is becoming economically unsustainable for the Kremlin.

Source: ISW

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A France-trained force aims to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses at a critical point in war

A French military task force with a festive name — “Champagne” — is wrapping up a mission that’s no party: training a whole new brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops who will be joining the fight against Russia’s invasion armed with France-supplied tanks, artillery canons and other heavy weaponry.

The approaching return to Ukraine of the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, after more than two months of intense military training in eastern and southern France, comes at another critical juncture in the almost three-year war.

Russian forces are driving westward in an effort to capture all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. They’ve been bolstered by up to 12,000 North Korean troops that have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk border region to help beat back Ukrainian forces there, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

When deployed, the French-trained and -equipped brigade named after a Kyiv princess who became a queen of France could prove to be a formidable force on the battlefields. It will eventually be made up of 4,500 troops, formed of infantry battalions, plus engineers, artillery teams and other specialists, French authorities have previously said.

The more than 2,000 soldiers who have been training in France are being put through final paces before their return to Ukraine.

The majority of them were recently mobilized and previously had just a few weeks of basic training before their arrival in France in September, the French military says. The Ukrainian military is also training other troops for the brigade back in Ukraine, according to French authorities.

The French military dedicated around 1,500 of its own soldiers to the “Champagne” task force that has been teaching the Ukrainians how to fight effectively together and how to use and maintain their France-supplied weaponry.

The French military says the brigade’s arsenal will include 18 AMX 10 light tanks, 18 truck-mounted Caesar artillery pieces, 128 armored troop carriers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, plus other weaponry and equipment.

With observation drones buzzing overhead and amid clouds of smoke and bursts of gunfire and explosions, the Ukrainian soldiers conducted exercises this week at a French military training camp, showing how they have learned to defend and storm a complex of trenches like those on the battlefronts in Ukraine.

The French military wouldn’t allow visiting journalists to interview the Ukrainians. French officers involved in the training said the troops are now better prepared for combat that they’ll likely experience in months ahead.

Source: AP News

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Zelenskyy:  Negotiating from a position of strength

Ukraine President Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine must enter any future negotiations from a position of strength as Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in a negotiated settlement — no matter the negotiating platform or mediator — that results in anything less than Ukrainian capitulation.

Zelensky stated that Ukraine must be "strengthened by some important elements" to negotiate with Putin, emphasizing that Ukraine cannot enter negotiations from a position of weakness. Zelensky stated that Putin does not want peace but would still be willing to come to the negotiating table in order to reduce Russia's diplomatic isolation and to secure concessions and Ukraine's capitulation.

Zelensky stated that it is important that any negotiation platform and potential meditators remember that Russia violated Ukrainian territorial integrity and international law by invading Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 and remarked that his conversations with US President-elect Donald Trump demonstrate that Trump is "on the side of supporting Ukraine" and has listened to Ukraine's position.

Zelensky concluded that Ukraine must do everything to end the war by diplomatic means in 2025. ISW recently assessed that the Kremlin is trying to dictate the terms of any potential "peace" negotiations with Ukraine in advance of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. The Kremlin has consistently demonstrated that it is unwilling to compromise on the terms of any possible negotiations while strongly indicating that the Kremlin's longstanding goal of complete Ukrainian capitulation remains unchanged.

Any future negotiations, no matter the platform or mediator, will require Ukraine to enter talks from a position of strength that forces Putin to change his calculus, engage in good faith talks, and accept compromises.

Source: ISW

G7 reiterates pledge to impose severe costs on Russia

Leaders of the major democracies in the G7 repeated their pledge on Saturday to impose severe consequences on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The consequences will include sanctions, export controls and other measures, the G7 said. The group will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary, it added.

“Russia remains the sole obstacle to just and lasting peace,” it said in a statement on Saturday. The statement was adopted “in support of Kyiv as the thousandth day of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine approaches.”

“The G7 confirms its commitment to imposing severe costs on Russia through sanctions, export controls and other effective measures. We stand united with Ukraine,” the statement added.

Italy currently holds the 2024 rotating presidency of the G7. Other member states include United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.

Source: Independent

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EU cements first ever joint arms purchases in boost for Ukraine

The EU has for the first time funded member states’ joint procurement of weapons, including missiles and ammunition, which will in part be sent to Ukraine. It had previously financed arms purchases for Ukraine ad hoc and from outside its budget. 

The European Commission vice-president Margrethe Vestager said the EU was investing €300 million to help groups of up to nine member countries buy air defence systems, armoured vehicles and artillery ammunition. “Importantly, the selected projects will also increase our support to Ukraine with additional defence equipment.” The EU has been working to boost its defence industry to arm Ukraine and build up its own forces. It fell short of a promise to supply Kyiv with a million artillery shells by the end of March 2024, but the EU diplomacy chief, Josep Borrell, has vowed the goal will be reached before the end of the year.

Source: The Guardian