EU exploring ways to plug gaps in Ukraine financing following USAID assistance cuts - Dombrovskis

That’s according to Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Economy, Implementation and Simplification, who spoke in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

“Obviously, we are following developments concerning U.S military and humanitarian assistance and, indeed, looking, where is necessary for us to plug certain gaps,” the commissioner said, answering a question of whether the EU is ready to at least partially cover the financing gaps that emerged after USAID assistance was withdrawn.

He also recalled that the EU is already the largest support provider for Ukraine, which is substantially larger than that from United States.

As regards Ukraine’s financing needs, under the current scenario for this year, EU support programs are broadly covered, he assured, including within the G7 ERA loan initiative.

The U.S contribution to those programs for this year, $20 billion, is already front-loaded, the commissioner added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the European Commission on Thursday, March 20, announced the allocation of EUR 1 billion for Ukraine as part of the G7 loan initiative guaranteed by extraordinary proceeds from immobilized Russian assets.

This is already the second such tranche provided by the EU. The money will go for priority budget expenditures, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Overall, the EU has already provided EUR 4 billion under the G7 initiative.

On March 10, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government was shutting down 83 percent of all USAID projects run worldwide.