Zelensky says aid deal demonstrates 'strong EU unity'
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Well we're going to get reaction now from Ukraine with our Kyiv correspondent Gulliver
00:03 Craig who joins me now live from there. Gulliver, what kind of reaction has there been so far
00:08 about this new aid from the EU?
00:10 Well I'm seeing lots of expressions of joy or at the very least relief on social media.
00:18 Volodymyr Zelensky said that it was a very good thing that the European Union had done this as a
00:23 bloc. It showed that the European Union was still united in its support for Ukraine. There is not
00:31 exactly a feeling of surprise in Kyiv so much as relief that it happened quickly and that it didn't
00:38 have to be achieved via another mechanism. But it had been pretty clear for some time now that
00:43 the European Union would one way or another validate this money but if they had to do it
00:49 without Viktor Orban it would have to be done another way and it would of course not have sent
00:53 that signal of unity that Volodymyr Zelensky was saluting. This is relief much more than joy.
01:00 Nothing seems like a bonus. Everything seems in Kyiv like how terrible it would have been if this
01:06 had not gone through. The Ukrainians need this money very very badly. Of course they're running
01:11 a massive budget deficit. The money it's worth underlining is not for military support. That's
01:18 decided by individual European countries separately. They provide arms and military
01:24 support for Ukraine. This is for spending on reconstruction and reform and just keeping the
01:30 economy afloat actually over the years to 2027. And of course even if it isn't directly going to
01:37 be spent on anything military it does provide macro financial stability for Ukraine which
01:42 allows it to continue to finance its own military spending, paying the salaries of soldiers for
01:48 example knowing that there will be at least some EU funding to pick up the salaries of
01:53 civil servants in other areas. Some EU funding there but this aid does come at a time when
02:00 Western military support seems to be faltering.
02:03 Yes and it was reported by Bloomberg that Rustem Umayrov, the Ukrainian defence minister,
02:10 had written to his European counterparts really urging them to step up the production of artillery
02:17 rounds in particular. Europe if you remember promised a million artillery rounds to Ukraine.
02:23 It looks like they're not even going to meet half of that target by the deadline set of next month.
02:30 They still say that they're going to make up the remaining 600,000 by the end of the year but
02:36 Ukraine is at the moment fighting against a Russian army that is very much on the offensive
02:41 all along the front line with an artillery disadvantage that Mr Umayrov, the defence
02:46 minister, actually put it only three to one but soldiers that I've spoken to and who've been
02:51 quoted in numerous media are putting it closer to five to one, the firepower disadvantage that
02:56 Ukraine currently has against the Russians. Clearly they are having to save on ammunition
03:01 and not fire all the rounds that they would like to in order to secure their own security,
03:06 the soldiers on the front line, for fear that they might run out.
03:08 All right, Gulliver, thanks for that. France 24's Gulliver Crag in Kyiv.