Ukraine receives first EUR 500 mln from EIB Ukraine Solidarity Urgent Response package

Ukraine received the first payments of EUR 500 million of immediate assistance to address the country's urgent needs under the second package of Ukraine Solidarity Urgent Response from the European Investment Bank (EIB) totaling EUR 1.59 billion.

"The disbursed financing of EUR 500 million will help the Ukrainian government cover priority short-term financing needs, and ensure urgent repairs of damaged roads, bridges and railway infrastructure," the bank said on Thursday.

According to the bank, it will also support strategic state-owned companies – Ukravtodor, Ukraine's roads agency, and Ukrainian rail company Ukrzaliznytsia. Repairs to the train network, roads and bridges will help Ukraine keep people, goods and grain moving. With Ukraine being one of the biggest exporters of grain in the world, these vital interventions will help its economy recover and improve connectivity with the European Union.

The EIB recalled that the first emergency support package of EUR 668 million was fully disbursed within a month of the beginning of Russia's unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

The EUR 1.59 billion package of support under the EIB Ukraine Solidarity Urgent Response, backed by guarantees from the EU budget, consists of two blocks of interventions: EUR 1.05 billion of immediate assistance, of which half a billion was fully on September 14, 2022, further payments are scheduled over the coming days; and EUR 540 million for resuming EIB-financed projects in Ukraine where the EIB is continuing its support to Ukraine by funding its existing projects as they progress.

"This emergency package was prepared jointly with the European Commission, to assist Ukraine in facing urgent investment needs, from infrastructure networks to the delivery of basic services to the population. We are working closely with the government of Ukraine to ensure that the country can maintain and resume its most critical functions in the face of such enormous challenges and suffering," EIB President Werner Hoyer was quoted as saying in the release.

Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko thanked the EU and the EIB for their solidarity with Ukraine.