The west was prepared to give Kyiv at least EUR 20 billion in loans if Ukraine agreed to sign a landmark European Union integration agreement, the Financial Times has reported, referring to an internal EU document.
The total amount would have broadly matched the bailout package Russia pledged to Ukraine on December 17 and what Ukraine had publicly demanded, the newspaper wrote.
According to one official cited by the newspaper, the EUR 20 billion would have come mainly via the International Monetary Fund under tough conditions, but the European Commission would have helped "fast-track" the disbursement of the funds.
The article also states that EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said that Brussels was still waiting to look at this week's Russia-Ukraine agreements to ensure they did not contradict Kyiv's commitments to the EU under the planned integration agreement.
"If the Ukraine-Russia deal has brought some normalcy to the trade relationship between the two countries that's fine," Fule said.
