Ukraine Receives €2 Billion for Drone Production — Von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that half of the €4 billion the European Union transferred to Ukraine on October 1 is earmarked for drone production.

She announced in Copenhagen ahead of the informal European Council summit, according to European Pravda.

Von der Leyen said the EU views Ukraine as Europe’s first line of defense and that military support should be strengthened accordingly.

“If we all agree that Ukraine is our first line of defense, we must strengthen military support for Ukraine. It is for this reason that today we are allocating €4 billion to Ukraine,” she said.

According to European Pravda, the €4 billion tranche is part of the ERA initiative. Between 2024 and 2025, the G7 and the EU have already provided Ukraine with nearly $28 billion under the program.

The G7 ERA (Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine) program provides loans to Ukraine funded from frozen Russian sovereign assets, with a total program size of up to $50 billion.

Ukraine received the previous tranche of EU macro-financial assistance — €1 billion — on September 10.