The EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to increase arms aid to Ukraine by 500 million euros.

This means that the members have two billion euros in the so-called peace facility at their disposal to refinance weapons and equipment for Kyiv.

Before the political decision can take effect, the Budget Committee of the Bundestag must approve it.

490 million euros are earmarked for weapons and only 10 million for non-lethal equipment.

In the previous tranches it was 50 million euros each.

This item is necessary for the non-aligned states to agree.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Displeasure was voiced at the ministerial meeting over Hungary, which has been blocking a joint oil embargo against Russia for almost two weeks.

"The whole Union is being held hostage by a member state," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was confident that an agreement would be reached "in the next few days".

She ruled out going it alone without Hungary: "It is important that all countries can go the way of the oil exit together."

No armistice favoring Russia

The Hungarian head of department Peter Szijjarto made his country's approval dependent on EU aid worth billions.

Investments of 15 to 18 billion euros are necessary to move away from oil, he said in a video message published on Facebook.

The EU Commission had offered Hungary and Slovakia a two-year longer transition period until the end of 2024.

She also wants to present proposals on Wednesday on how the Union can break away from Russian oil and gas more quickly;

this includes new lines.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ruled out a ceasefire that would favor Russia on the sidelines of the meeting he attended.

"It's just a wrong approach when you're looking for face-saving options for Putin," Kuleba told Bloomberg TV.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously accused French President Emmanuel Macron of such an attitude.