The EU Foreign Affairs Council has approved a mid-term loan of EUR 1 billion and an additional EUR 610 million in micro-financial aid for Ukraine.

"[We] welcome the adoption of the EU Commission proposal on autonomous trade measures for Ukraine [and] additional macrofinancial assistance of EUR1 bln," EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule said on Twitter.

At issue is aid in the form of a medium-term loan of up to EUR 1 billion, intended to contribute to covering Ukraine's urgent balance-of-payments needs as identified in the government's economic program supported by the IMF. This comes in addition to the already approved, but not yet disbursed macro-financial assistance of EUR 610 million.