EU approves €18bn support package for Ukraine 

European Union leaders have agreed to provide 18 billion euros support package to help cover a significant part of Ukraine’s short-term funding needs for 2023.

“Our joint determination to support Ukraine politically, financially, militarily and in the humanitarian area for as long as necessary remains unbroken,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after talks among the 27 national EU leaders in Brussels.

The support put forward by the EU would need to be matched by similar efforts by other major donors in order to cover all of Ukraine’s funding needs for 2023.

Similarly, the U.S. Senate passed a bill for a record $858 billion defence budget next year, authorising $45 billion more than proposed by President Joe Biden.

The bill, which Biden is expected to quickly sign into law, provides Ukraine at least $800 million in additional security assistance in 2023.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian defence chiefs have predicted that Russia will launch a new offensive early next year that could include a second attempt to take the capital Kyiv.

Also Read: EU Members Fail to Reach Agreement on New Russia Sanction 

Moscow’s new offensive could happen as soon as January, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, General Valery Zaluzhniy and General Oleksandr Syrskiy were quoted as saying in interviews with The Economist magazine.

“The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv,” Zaluzhniy was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov also said in remarks published in The Guardian on Thursday that evidence was mounting that Russia planned a broad new offensive.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged its allies to send more air defences to counter Russian missile bombardment including against its energy infrastructure.

Russia has fired barrages of missiles on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since October, disrupting power supplies and leaving people without heating in freezing winter conditions.

Reuters /Zainab Sa’id