U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called an additional $500 million financial aid package to Ukraine, previously announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, “only the beginning,” the Associated Press said.
“We plan to deploy this direct aid to Ukraine as soon as possible, to be used on the most urgent need. This is only the beginning of what Ukraine will need to rebuild,” she said.
Thus, this package will be provided in addition to the $500 million that Biden announced in March, the agency notes.
Speaking of sanctions against Russia, she noted that the U.S. continues to “tighten the vise of our economic pressure campaign.”
“Europe clearly needs to reduce its dependence on Russia in respect to energy. But we need to be careful,” Yellen said.
Yellen met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko on Thursday.
Earlier, Yellen and several other officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, left the room during the speech of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at the G20 meeting in Washington. So did U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Yellen stated that Russia should be excluded from the G20 and that she intended to boycott events where Russian officials would speak.
South Korea plans to provide Ukraine with an additional 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in non-lethal aid this month, Yonhap News has reported, citing an informed source.
According to the source, Seoul is preparing to start sending items such as bulletproof vests, helmets, medical supplies and ready-to-eat food to Ukraine as early as next week.
South Korea plans to phase out new aid on civilian flights to Europe until the end of April.
Seoul already sent 1 billion won in aid last month.
New Zealand will send a C-130 Hercules transport plane with 50 servicemen to Europe to participate in the distribution of military aid to Ukraine, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
Over the next two months, our C-130 will join a chain of military aircraft from partner countries that will travel across Europe delivering much-needed equipment and supplies to key distribution centers, Ardern was quoted as saying by local media.
New Zealand will also allocate an additional NZ$ 13 million to help Ukraine, including 7.5 million for the purchase of weapons and ammunition through the UK. At the moment, the total contribution of New Zealand is $30 million.
On Thursday, April 7, Ukrposhta made the first delivery from the Belgian Post Group (Belgian Post, bpost), 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid, which bpost collected from the population in its 657 branches.
According to the press service of the national postal operator, the reloading was carried out on the border with Romania thanks to the help and assistance of the Romanian Post.
According to Ukrposhta, in particular, 20 tonnes of food and hygiene products, as well as 20 tonnes of essential medical supplies were delivered from Belgium. They are already moving to Kyiv region, as well as to the east and south of Ukraine.
It is noted that food and hygiene products will be donated to the needs of defenders and organizations that take care of children and the elderly, and will also be distributed to IDPs.
Medicines were purchased by a charitable foundation in Belgium according to the needs of specific hospitals, they are sent to them by targeted delivery.
“Thanks to the fact that from the beginning of the war, Ukrposhta turned to the member countries of the Universal Postal Union for support, today we have it from many post offices of the world, which is expressed in real actions. Another 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid is hundreds of meals for people from the most difficult regions, these are medical supplies for the treatment of military and civilians who were injured due to rocket attacks by Russia,” the press service of the company quotes Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky.
At the same time, the head of Ukrposhta separately thanked the Belgian Post for understanding not only the plight of Ukrainians, in which they found themselves due to the Russian attack, but also the difficult logistical conditions. In addition to organizing the collection and delivery of aid, bpost also organized its sorting into categories, which will significantly speed up the work, reducing processing time and saving precious minutes, and immediately send aid to the most affected regions of Ukraine, Smelyansky noted.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced a new $125 million package for Ukraine’s Security Assistance Initiative that includes training, equipment and advisory efforts to help Ukraine’s forces preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.
“The USAI package includes two additional armed Mark VI patrol boats to enhance Ukraine’s capacity to patrol and defend its territorial waters. To date, the U.S. has committed a total of eight Mark VI patrol boats,” the Defense Department said in a press release on Monday.
The Pentagon said that this action reaffirms the U.S. commitment to providing defensive lethal weapons to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression.
“The package also includes capabilities to enhance the lethality, command and control, and situational awareness of Ukraine’s forces through the provision of additional counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment; continued support for a satellite imagery and analysis capability; and equipment to support military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures,” the department said.
The Pentagon also said that the remaining $150 million in fiscal year 2021 USAI funds appropriated by Congress will be provided when the Defence Department, in coordination with the Department of State certifies that Ukraine has made sufficient progress on key defense reforms this year, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act.
“The Department encourages Ukraine to continue to enact reforms that strengthen civilian control of the military, promote increased transparency and accountability in defense industry and procurement, and modernize its defense sector in other key areas in line with NATO principles and standards,” the Defense Department said.
Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
The European Commission, on behalf of the European Union, has disbursed EUR 600 million to Ukraine under its coronavirus (COVID-19) related macro-financial assistance (MFA) programme.
The European Commission’s press service said this on Wednesday.
Commenting on the payout, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said: “Ukraine remains high on the European agenda. It is our neighbourhood country and it belongs to Europe. We are committed to offering political, financial and technical support, especially during this time of crisis as a response to COVID-19 pandemic and overcome the social and economic consequences,” the press service said, citing Dombrovskis.
He also said that this EUR 600 million first tranche of emergency macro-financial assistance “confirms the EU’s solidarity with Ukraine and our continued close cooperation.” “I offer my best wishes to Ukraine’s government for 2021 in carrying through its reform agenda, to improve living standard, continue fighting against corruption and bring Ukraine closer to the EU,” the EC Vice President said.
The European Commission said that this disbursement will contribute to macro-financial stability in Ukraine, “while allowing it to allocate resources towards mitigating the severe negative socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.”
As reported, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ukrainian government and the EC in the summer, followed by its ratification in the middle of September, as well as after Ukraine’s resumption of participation in continuing cooperation under the IMF program in recent weeks.
