EU exploring ways to fill funding gaps in USAID aid cuts in Ukraine – Dombrovskis

This was announced by Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Implementation and Simplification, in an interview with an Ukrinform correspondent during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

“It is clear that we are monitoring developments regarding military and humanitarian assistance from the United States, and indeed we are looking at where we need to fill certain gaps,” the commissioner said, answering a question about whether the EU is ready to at least partially fill the funding gap that has arisen since the end of USAID assistance.

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He also recalled that the EU is already the largest provider of support to Ukraine, which significantly exceeds aid from the United States.

As for Ukraine's financial needs, in the current scenario for this year, EU support programs are generally provided, he assured, including within the framework of the G7 ERA credit initiative.

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The commissioner added that the US contribution to these programs for this year in the amount of $20 billion has already been made at the initial stage.

As reported by Ukrinform, on Thursday, March 20, the European Commission announced the allocation of 1 billion euros to Ukraine under the G7 credit initiative under guarantees of emergency proceeds from frozen Russian assets.

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This is the second such tranche provided by the EU. The funds will be used for priority budget expenditures, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. In total, the EU has already allocated 4 billion euros within the framework of the G7 initiative.

On March 10, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the government was closing 83 percent of all USAID projects around the world.