Zelenskyy says EU to use emergency assistance mechanism to quickly provide Ukraine with funds

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the EU will use a special emergency assistance mechanism to quickly provide Ukraine with funds.

In a statement on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he discussed the issue during a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“There is a very difficult situation in many of our cities and communities with the supply of electricity, water and heat because of Russian strikes. The hardest is in Kyiv, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Donetsk regions, and in Kherson,” he said.

He said he told von der Leyen about the challenges, and they agreed that the EU would use the mechanism.

“This will make it possible to quickly provide Ukraine with funds for what is most needed now. Teams are already working on it,” he said.

Zelenskyy said he also discussed additional energy and humanitarian aid to prepare for winter with von der Leyen, as well as EU integration issues.

According to him, the European Commission published its annual EU enlargement report last week, which assessed Ukraine’s progress positively.

“It is important to open all clusters and start closing chapters,” he said.

On diplomacy, Zelenskyy said talks were held in Brussels in recent days, where Ukrainian teams “worked well” on a recovery plan and security guarantees from Europe.

He said he and von der Leyen also coordinated positions on the upcoming trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine meeting in Abu Dhabi.

“We are doing everything to make the trilateral format bring results,” he said.