European Union Set to Supply $500 Million in Military Aid to Ukraine, Package May Include Fighter Jets

Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

The European Union agreed to a 450 million euros ($500 million) lethal military aid package that may include fighter jets, according to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Another 50 million euros will be allocated for non-lethal aid, according to Bloomberg.

“We’re going to supply arms…fighters,” Borrell said at a press conference in Brussels on Sunday. “We’re going to provide…even fighting jets. We’re not talking about just ammunitions, we’re providing the more important arms to go to war.”

Borrell added the EU has been in talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the type of jets the military needs.

According to Washington Post reporter Michael Birnbaum, the EU will be supplying “Russian-made” fighter jets to Ukraine from Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Poland. Birnbaum noted that the jets “need to be Russian-made, because that’s what Ukrainian fighter pilots can jump into and use from day 1.”

One source familiar with the negotiations told the Wall Street Journal that talks are still ongoing, and if fighter jets are provided, they would be sent directly from EU member states and not funded through the military package.

If approved by members, the lethal aid package would mark the first time the European Union agreed to finance and arrange the delivery of weapons and military equipment to a country at war.

“Another taboo has fallen,” Borrell said. “The taboo that the European Union was not providing arms in a war.”