Tuesday evening US president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin conducted two-hour telephone callPutin agreed halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. However, within hours of the conversation Russia raided Ukrainian energy infrastructure in Slavic region of Donetsk.
Kaja Kallas, EU advanced typical for abroad Affairs, has proposed that to each EU country to contribute to Ukraine's assistance in proportion to the size of its economy, to double the amount of EUR 20 billion (about PLN 84 billion) transferred in 2024.
Kallas stated that her initiative had "wide political support". The proposal has indeed received strong support from the countries of northern and east Europe, which already supply considerable assistance to Ukraine. However, as Reuters writes, Italy and Spain have, however, stated that it is besides early to decide.
It is so improbable that the leaders will make a final decision on the military aid package for Ukraine at the EU summit on 20 and 21 March, as reported by the Suspilne portal 3 sources.
Estonia, Denmark and Lithuania allocated more than 2% of their GDP to support Kiev from 2022 to 2024. Meanwhile, countries in South Europe specified as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus, less than 0.5% of their GDP.
Italian abroad Minister Antonio Tajani said the proposal needs further discussion. He added that Italy must increase its defence spending. On the another hand, Spain, as Jose Manuel Albares, the Minister of abroad Affairs there, has already allocated EUR 1 billion (about EUR 4.2 billion) for military aid to Ukraine and now sees no request for additional commitments.
Slovakia and Hungary do not block the initiative but refuse to participate in its funding. Hungarian abroad Minister Peter Szijjartó stated thatego country will not let the usage of Hungarian taxpayers' money for arms transportation to UkraineAs Reuters says.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Britain and the European Union are discussing how to legally take over frozen Russian assets. Moreover, the states want to jointly increase defence spending to put force on Putina before peace talks, wrote a journal.
