Finland will provide Ukraine with the 17th package of military assistance, including air defense equipment and ammunition, the Finnish government said in a press release on Thursday.
According to the statement, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto made the decision based on the government’s proposal.
The aid package will cost Finland 105 million euros.
In order to ensure the safe delivery of military cargoes to their destination, more precise details about the content of the aid package, the timing and ways of its transportation are not reported.
In total, Finland has provided Ukraine with military assistance worth about 1.2 billion euros.
Ukraine’s state budget on Thursday received $1.215 billion in grant funds through the World Bank’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund: $1.2 billion from the U.S. and ;15 million from Finland.
“The grant funds are provided as part of the fifth additional funding under the project Supporting Public Expenditures for Sustainable Public Administration in Ukraine (PEACE in Ukraine). The purpose of the project is to partially compensate state budget expenditures, including social and humanitarian, not related to the sphere of security and defense,” the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.
It specified that the attracted grant financing will be used for remuneration of state bodies’ employees and teaching staff, pension payments, as well as payments under certain programs of state social assistance (IDPs, people with disabilities, low-income families and payments of housing and communal subsidies).
The Finance Ministry added that in cooperation with Deloitte Consulting, which implements the USAID SOERA project, it is monitoring the use of direct budget support from the US government, and with PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ukraine, an auditing company, is reviewing the agreed procedures in order to determine the eligible state expenditures made by Ukraine in 2022.
It is indicated that the size of the PEACE in Ukraine program reached $16.5 billion and EUR1.4 billion (IBRD loans, MIGA loans, grants of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund).
Finland will supply Ukraine with the 11th package of military equipment worth EUR 28.8 million, according to the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In addition, the Finnish Defense Forces will continue to participate in training support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the UK until the end of 2023. “In August, Finland sent about 20 instructors to a UK-led training operation aimed at training the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The UK has asked for support from its partner countries to implement the training,” the report says.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the total cost of all military equipment supplied by Finland to Ukraine is already EUR 189.2 million.
Ukraine and Finland have extended the implementation of the project “Finnish Support to the Ukrainian School Reform” until 2023, the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine reported on Thursday.
The corresponding agreement was signed during a meeting in Kyiv by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal and Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin. The project provides financial support from Finland for educational reform in Ukraine in the amount of up to EUR 6 million and up to EUR 2 million from the European Union.
“Since the beginning of Russia’s aggression in 2014, Finland has helped us on all international platforms, provided significant support in promoting reforms in Ukraine, in particular in the field of education,” Shmyhal said.
Finland will allocate EUR 70 million in aid to Ukraine and send additional military equipment, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said.
“We have made a decision on a further allocation of EUR 700 million to help Ukrainian refugees in Finland. In addition to this, we are currently preparing an additional contribution to cover current needs and assist with reconstruction. The contribution, subjected parliamentary approval, will be approximately EUR 70 million. We have also made the decision today to send additional military equipment to Ukraine,” Marin said at the High-Level International Donor Conference for Ukraine in Warsaw on Thursday.
Finland is ready to tighten sanctions against the Russian Federation in connection with the aggression against Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in an interview with Yle Ykkösaamu.
“Every day people die in Ukraine. We have to make the war stop. We have to be prepared to be flexible in our own daily lives,” she said.
“Finland supports tougher sanctions, including those covering energy policy,” she explained, adding that rising energy prices would not deter sanctions.
“45 days of war is 45 days more than necessary. Russia is waging a dishonorable war, cruel and inhumane, and it must stop,” Marin said.
