Hungary is blocking EUR 6.6 billion in a return for helping Ukraine. Kallas: Shopping solution in the USA

The head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas hopes that it will be possible to unlock EUR 6.6 billion of a return for EU countries for the help of Ukraine. The payment of funds is still blocking Hungary. According to Kallas, the solution may be the concept of using this money to buy weapons in the USA.

On Friday, the Ministers of Defense of EU countries discussed in Copenhagen, among others on the war in Ukraine and defense of EU countries.

After the meeting, Kallas at a press conference emphasized that Russia reacts to rocket attacks to actions taken to develop peace in the war. – Wednesday's attack on Kiev shows how consciously Russia decided to escalate the conflict and at the same time ridiculed peace efforts. President Zelanski a few months ago clearly expressed his readiness to talk, but Putin blocks them with all possible ways – she said.

She reminded that the EU and her Member States have already provided Ukraine over EUR 63 billion in support military from the beginning of the war, in 2025 it will be 25 billion. In her opinion, this help must be continued due to Russia's attitude.

The defense ministers of 26 EU countries, without Hungary, also supported on Friday a statement that Russia's intentional attacks on civilians and non -military goals in Ukraine are war crimes.

The topic of conversations in the capital of Denmark was the European mechanism for peace (EPF). It is a fund, which is founded by Brussels by Member States, costs incurred for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. For many months, the payment of these funds – currently around EUR 6.6 billion – is blocked by Hungary.

Kallas, however, expressed the hope that this could be changed. In her opinion, the solution could be, for example, the resignation of Budapest from participation in the initiative, or the allocation of blocked funds for the purchase of weapons in the USA.

Work is currently underway on the NATO -USA mechanism to enable faster shopping of American weapons by your allies.

One of the concepts assumes that NATO countries would finance the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine, paying funds directly to the American budget. The idea involves bypassing time -consuming procedures.

Kallas also reported that the ministers at the meeting in Copenhagen expressed broad support for the extension of the mandate of the EU military mission for training Ukraine troops after a possible suspension of weapons.

– We are the largest training supplier for the Ukrainian army. So far, we have trained over 80,000 soldiers and we must be ready for more. This could include the placement of EU instructors in Ukrainian military academies and institutions – emphasized the head of EU diplomacy.

The topic of talks was also the cooperation of Ukraine and the EU countries in the arms industry sector.

The Minister of Defense of Denmark Troels Lund Poulsen said at the conference that he hopes that in a few weeks his country would invite the first Ukrainian arms company to start production in Denmark.

– I also expect that other Ukrainian arms companies will follow in their footsteps this year, and I think it will also be a way to provide Ukraine with even greater support – he said.

From Brussels Łukasz Osiński (PAP)

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