The head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas announced on Friday the payment of one billion euros in favor of the Ukrainian defense industry, funded thanks to the interests generated by the Russian assets frozen in the EU.
The head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas announced on Friday in Lviv, west of Ukraine, the release of one billion euros in favor of the Ukrainian defense industry, funded thanks to the interests generated by the frozen Russian assets in the European Union.
“We have just released a billion euros for the Ukrainian defense industry so that Ukraine can better defend itself” Against the Russian invasion, the head of European diplomacy said on the sidelines of a large group of European ministers. Westerners have frozen some 235 billion euros in Russian assets since the start of the war in 2022, the majority of which were in Europe. In March, the European Union had decided to draw from the interests received on these assets to finance help from Ukraine, which Moscow described as «vol».
Earlier in the day, France, through the voice of Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, had announced the mobilization of income from frozen Russian assets to ensure the maintenance of Caesar cannons which she delivered to Ukraine. In June 2024, the Franco-German armament group KNDS, which notably manufactured the Caesar cannons, had formalized in Paris the creation of a subsidiary in Ukraine and then indicated the establishment of a Caesar maintenance center. France has delivered sixty copies of these cannons, capable of drawing six shells in less than a minute, 40 km with great precision.
