DISINFO: The EU will forget about its promises to restore Ukraine
SUMMARY
The European bureaucracy intends to continue bearing the burden of financial support for Ukraine, lobbying for the inclusion of €100 billion in the EU budget for 2028-2034 for expenses on Ukraine. This money would be more useful to farmers, not to the Kyiv authorities. This approach will already, at the legislative level, fix the status of Ukraine as a European proxy or an associated member of the European Community, whose task is to fight Russia in exchange for European money.
When the Europeans say that they will accumulate funds and then spend them on Ukraine, it is understood that most of these projects will not be implemented. It is worth recalling the unfulfilled promises of the Italian authorities to restore the destroyed theatre in Mariupol. Has anyone seen Italian engineers, architects and builders at the restoration work in Mariupol? Did Italy allocate funds for the restoration of this theatre? The same bravura talk is being heard that will be forgotten in a year or two.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring narrative aimed at undermining support for Ukraine. These claims, which are part of an ongoing pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign in Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, deny Ukraine's legitimate right of self-defence and its statehood.
The European Commission has proposed allocating €100 billion in aid to Ukraine from the European Union's long-term budget for 2028–2034, as President Ursula von der Leyen announced on July 16, 2025. The proposed package doubles the current Ukraine Facility budget of €50 billion, which was approved in February 2024 and runs through till 2027.
The aims of the Ukraine Facility are to support Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction, and modernisation; to meet Ukraine’s financing needs so the government can continue delivering uninterrupted public services; to mobilise investments in Ukraine’s private sector for rapid economic recovery and reconstruction; to assist Ukraine in implementing the reforms required on its path to EU accession; and to support broader Ukrainian society by addressing the social consequences of the war. You can read more about the mechanism of the Ukraine Facility in the European Commission's newsletter.
Italy has indeed expressed its readiness to restore the building of the theatre in Mariupol, which was bombed by the Russian army in March 2022, while hundreds of Ukrainians with children were hiding there. However, at the moment, the city remains under Russian occupation, which is not recognised by any democratic country in the world. Therefore, it is currently impossible to carry out work to restore the city completely destroyed by Russia.
At the same time, in the territory controlled by the legitimate government of Ukraine, the European Union is actively investing in the restoration of the state. The European Commission has allocated over €1.1 billion for humanitarian aid programmes in Ukraine, within the framework of which residential buildings and healthcare facilities destroyed by Russia are being restored; targeted financial support and food aid is provided to affected Ukrainians; funds are being invested in providing electricity, water supply and heat to cities and villages (read more in the case Kyiv has caused an energy collapse in Kharkiv).
Money is also actively invested in the well-being of Ukrainian children. The EU has allocated €100 million to ensure safe access of children to education in Ukraine. The EU has allocated another €540 million in loans to Ukraine for the repair of social infrastructure. These funds were used to restore damaged schools and create classrooms with shelters in the regions of Ukraine most affected by the war: from Kyiv's Bucha to Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. As of the end of 2024 (the latest available data), repair work has been carried out at 20 sites in 11 regions, with plans for another 9 schools and preschools. In total, the EU's budgetary assistance to Ukraine provides for the repair of more than 280 educational institutions in 19 of 24 regions of Ukraine.
The EU has already contributed substantial financial support to boost Ukraine's resilience and recovery through a range of instruments, such as the Ukraine Facility, Ukraine Donor Platform, through mobilising international support, Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 and much more. Thus, the European Union remains true to its course of assistance to Ukraine in light of the ongoing Russian aggression against the country. Read more about the EU’s response and support for Ukraine.
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