The European Commission plans to offer Ukraine an $18 billion package of loans to get the country through 2023, on the condition that Kiev repays the debt over 35 years, Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters on Wednesday.
The package will be doled out in monthly increments of $1.5 billion through 2023, with each installment paid back in 35 years, Dombrovskis said during a press briefing, according to the Euractiv news site. The EU would borrow the money from global markets and pay the interest on the loans, he added.
Dombrovskis said that Ukraine was in “acute” need of assistance due to Russia’s missile and drone attacks on its power infrastructure, and called on EU countries and the EU parliament to approve the package before the end of the year.
Securing this approval might prove difficult, however. Hungary will not sign off…
