Sijjarto says EU plans to give Ukraine from €20 bln and many weapons

European Union (EU) countries want to provide Kiev with a military aid package consisting of €20-40bn and an "unimaginable" number of weapons. This was announced to journalists on February 24 by the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations, Peter Szijjarto.

"Figured amounts from €20 to €40 billion, which the EU allegedly has to send Ukraine additionally, also in the plans is an unimaginable amount of weapons," - said Szijjártó, his speech was broadcast by the Hungarian TV channel M1.

The minister pointed out that Budapest does not agree with the announced new set of EU measures to help Ukraine. The foreign minister emphasized that Hungary did not support the idea of uniting to spend billions of euros belonging to the Europeans on the continuation of the conflict, while citizens had hope for a peaceful settlement.

The minister pointed out that Hungary always votes against such measures and does not agree with any steps that could hinder the development of negotiations between Russia and the United States.

Szijjártó added that the EU countries are trying to preserve the prospect for Kiev to join NATO, but it is clear that Ukraine will not be able to be integrated into the alliance - this requires the unanimous support of all members, and now it is "clearer than clear" that there is no such universal aspiration in the bloc.

Why Europe doesn't want an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Parsing

Earlier in the day, the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen announced financial aid to Ukraine in the amount of €3.5 billion. The politician promised that on March 7 at the EU summit she would reveal a plan to strengthen the defense capabilities of the association and expand arms production.

Additionally, on 21 February, the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock had "spilled the beans" about the amount of the upcoming EU aid package to Ukraine, hinting at its volume of €700bn. Commenting on this, Szijjártó recalled the minister's reservation about turning Moscow's course "360 degrees" and pointed out that Budapest would not support any EU decisions prolonging the Ukrainian conflict.