The European Union (EU) has sent EUR 400 million from the first tranche of EUR 1.4 billion in revenue from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's military support through the European Peace Facility via Denmark for orders to defense enterprises directly in Ukraine, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova said.

She said at the 20th annual YES meeting in Kyiv on September 13-14, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation that the EU paid EUR 1.4 billion, of which EUR 400 million went directly to the Ukrainian industry through our Danish friends. And the EU is preparing to make another tranche, twice as much.

Mathernova noted that this is not yet such a large sum compared to the $7 billion that the Ukrainian defense industry annually sells its products to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry using funds from the Ukrainian budget, but the EU will continue to go down this path.

This is something that should be done on a systematic basis, because it is cheaper, it is faster, you remove logistics and transport, and taxes are paid on this, so it supports the economy, the EU ambassador emphasized.

In turn, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen pointed out that cooperation in financing the Ukrainian defense industry began on a bilateral basis - Denmark financed the purchase of Bohdana howitzers at its own expense, but now it will be expanded at the EU level as part of the EU defense initiative.

The Minister believes that the European Union and the European Commission will also be more active in this area in the future.

Poulsen said that Denmark is responsible for investing EUR 400 million over several months, directed to Ukrainian defense companies on behalf of the European Union. According to him, next year it will be possible to invest perhaps about a billion euros directly on behalf of the European Union here in the Ukrainian defense industry.

He emphasized that his message to his colleagues is that this is not so difficult, it is just a matter of allocating funds to help Ukrainian friends.

Advisor to the President of Ukraine on strategic issues Oleksandr Kamyshin, who until last week headed the Ministry of Strategic Industries, thanked Denmark and the Minister personally for such support.

As reported, the first batch of 18 Ukrainian-made Bohdana howitzers, financed by Denmark, was delivered to the troops this weekend. "We placed an order in July… and this weekend 18 Bohdana systems were delivered to the Ukrainian troops. This is amazing speed… I think buying 18 artillery systems from Europe would take several years to deliver them," Poulsen noted during YES.

According to him, the production capacity of Ukrainian defense companies allows them to supply products worth about $20 billion annually, while now Ukraine is only able to buy products worth about $7-8 billion with its own funds.