By Viktoriia Omelianenko

The EU is standing with Ukraine and supporting it in its fight for freedom through military, financial and humanitarian assistance, as well as sanctions against Russia. On 24 February, one year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was marked, and nine years since the beginning of Russia's illegal invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory. We look back at how the EU continued supporting Ukraine throughout February 2023.

President Von der Leyen and Commissioners in Kyiv, President Zelenskiy in Brussels

The visit of Ursula von der Leyen with 15 Commissioners to Kyiv on 2 February sent a strong signal of the EU's unwavering commitment to stand by Ukraine, including with a new €450 million assistance package for 2023, announced during the visit. With this, the EU, its Member States and European financial institutions have made available around €50 billion to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's aggression. In addition to this, the Commission is working towards a €1 billion contribution to fast recovery.

In Kyiv, the Commission and Ukrainian representatives took stock of the EU's ongoing support to Ukraine in different areas, including financial, humanitarian, energy, budget support as well as diplomatic outreach. They also looked into the reform efforts by Ukraine to advance on its EU path, and outlined further steps to enhance sectorial cooperation. As President von der Leyen said in Kyiv, “We will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes”.

In turn, in a show of Ukraine’s appreciation of the EU’s support, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a visit to Brussels on 9 February and was welcomed at the Parliament and the Council.  Ukraine’s future integration into the EU was the key point of Zelenskiy’s speech in the Parliament “This is our Europe, these are our rules, this is our way of life, and for Ukraine, it’s a way home, a way to home and that way home is the EU”. In the Council meeting, Zelenskiy raised the issues of the provision of the more of military assistance from the Member countries – especially fighting jets.

A 10^th sanctions package, and a focus on implementation of sanctions

The EU has also adopted 10 packages of sanctions in the past year, in response to Russia’s crimes at the frontline and against civilians. They add to existing measures imposed on Russia since 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and the non-implementation of the Minsk agreements. In addition to new sanctions packages, the focus is increasingly shifting to ensuring their maximum effectiveness on the ground, both in the EU and in non-EU countries.

President von der Leyen announced the 10^th package during the Commissioners’ visit to Ukraine on 2 February, and Member States adopted it on 25 February. In order to further increase the effectiveness of EU sanctions, the package contains new listings plus trade and financial sanctions, including further export bans worth more than €11 billion, depriving the Russian economy of critical tech and industrial goods. It also steps up enforcement and anti-circumvention measures, including a new reporting obligation on Russian Central Bank assets. More details can be found here.

To add to these efforts on effectiveness, the new EU sanctions envoy, David O'Sullivan is reaching out to non-EU countries to ensure strict implementation of EU sanctions and prevent circumvention, in cooperation with like-minded partners. As a testimony of this cooperation, on 23 February, the first Sanctions Coordinators Forum took place in Brussels, gathering the EU’s international partners and Member States, to strengthen joint enforcement efforts.

Viktoriia Omelianenko is a Blue Book trainee at the European Commission