This is a new "emergency aid package" in preparation that will still have to be validated by the European Parliament and the Member States, said in a short speech in Brussels the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
She said that since the start of the conflict in 2014, the EU and its financial institutions had already mobilized "17 billion euros in grants and loans" for the benefit of Ukraine.
This new aid amounting to 1.2 billion euros will be allocated in several stages.
A first tranche of 600 million euros will be "disbursed quickly", said Ms von der Leyen, provided that the green light from the other EU institutions intervenes quickly.
Brussels' effort, she pointed out, amounts to "doubling" EU-Ukraine bilateral aid in grants this year.
"This package of measures will help Ukraine to meet its financing needs due to the conflict now," said the German official.
"As always, the EU stands with Ukraine in these difficult circumstances," she added.
Nearly eight years after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, deemed illegal by the EU, the conflict between the two countries has escalated.
Moscow says it has no intention of intervening in Ukraine, but supports the claims of pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed republics of Lugansk and Donetsk in the Donbass (eastern Ukraine) and has massed more than 100,000 soldiers, tanks and artillery on the borders with Ukraine.
In this tense climate, NATO has announced that it is placing forces on standby and sending ships and combat aircraft to strengthen their defense in Eastern Europe against Russia's military activities on Ukraine's borders.
© 2022 AFP