EU disburses €300M in emergency assistance to Ukraine

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The European Commission disbursed on Friday €300 million ($330 million) in emergency assistance to Ukraine to support the country's macroeconomic stability amid its war with Russia.

"This is the initial part of a first €600 million ($660 million) installment under Ukraine's new €1.2 billion emergency Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) program," the EU Commission said in a statement.

A further payment of €300 million is expected to take place next week, while the remaining funds will be disbursed later in the year.

Since 2014, the EU and European financial institutions have allocated over €17 billion in grants and loans to Ukraine, according to the statement.

The readout said the EU is working on "all fronts" to support Ukraine with both humanitarian aid and civil protection assistance.

Russia launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24 and more than 2.5 million people have since fled the country.

While the EU and others have imposed sanctions on Moscow, many companies and global brands have also suspended their operations in Russia.