EU to use emergency mechanism to speed funds to Ukraine
Zelenskyy said the aid would address shortages of electricity, water and heat caused by Russian strikes, with Kyiv among the hardest hit.
The EU will use an emergency aid mechanism to speed funds to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
Zelenskyy made the announcement in a statement on Telegram after a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
He described a severe situation in many Ukrainian cities and communities, where electricity, water and heat supplies have been disrupted by Russian strikes.
Zelenskyy said the situation is worst in Kyiv, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Donetsk regions, and Kherson.
He said he and von der Leyen agreed to use the mechanism, which he said would allow funds to reach the most urgent needs, and that teams were already working on it.
Zelenskyy said the two leaders also discussed more energy and humanitarian aid to prepare for winter, as well as Ukraine's European Union integration.
He said the European Commission's annual enlargement report, published last week, assessed Ukraine's progress positively, and he stressed the need to open all negotiating clusters and begin closing chapters.
On diplomacy, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian teams had worked well in Brussels talks in recent days on a recovery plan and on security guarantees from Europe.
He said he and von der Leyen also coordinated their positions ahead of the upcoming trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine meeting in Abu Dhabi, adding, "We are doing everything to make the trilateral format bring results."
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and both sides have since traded strikes on each other's territory, with attacks on energy infrastructure a recurring feature of the war.
European governments have provided Ukraine with financial and humanitarian support throughout the conflict to help keep public services running.
