Ireland backs 'urgent' EU financing for Ukraine

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Nato-Ukraine council working dinner in Brussels, last Thursday. Picture: Olivier Matthys/AP

Ireland has agreed to an EU funding mechanism to provide immediate financial support to Ukraine, which is trying to maintain “essential state functions” at a time of intensified Russian attacks.

The Department of Finance published a document, including an EU explanatory memorandum, for the Oireachtas on establishing a new financial system, capable of supplying up to €35bn to Ukraine.