Strengthening Ukraine: EU-German Partnership for Resilience against Russian Aggression

The Federal Foreign Office and the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments join efforts in responding to Ukraine’s most urgent war-related needs in the civilian field. 

During the Ukraine Recovery Conference organised in Berlin, in presence of Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Volodymyr Kuzyo, German State Minister for Europe and Climate Anna Lührmann and Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis signed a joint declaration of intent on a financial increase of the ‘Integrated Response Hub for Ukraine’ to a total of EUR 75 million, of which EUR 39 million funded by Germany and EUR 36 million funded by the European Union through its crisis response instruments.

“We are proud to sign today with our partners from the German Federal Foreign Office and Ukraine a 100% increase in funding for the flexible procurement of equipment to respond to civilian war related needs in Ukraine. This is part of the EU’s comprehensive support to Ukraine,” Executive Vice President Dombrovskis said on the occasion. “In a highly volatile environment, we need to be flexible and responsive, and the Integrated Response Mechanism is set up to respond to those urgent demands.” Anna Luehrmann added: “Now amounting to EUR 75 million, the Hub makes European solidarity tangible. With these funds we deliver much needed goods such as vehicles, protective equipment and support for demining units.”

The enhanced mechanism includes support to civilian security actors in ensuring access to justice in de-occupied areas of Ukraine, also on accountability for war crimes. Responding to urgent needs following large scale destruction of energy generation capacity by Russia, the mechanism also helps supply critical infrastructure with electricity and stabilise the electricity grid. The mechanism is flexible to take on what’s most urgently required, and in the past has been used to assist the work of Ukrainian state operators in humanitarian demining with equipment making their urgent interventions more effective and save. 

The Integrated Response Hub for Ukraine is part of the Stabilisation Platform (SPF) of the Federal Foreign Office and provides concrete support to strengthen state and civil society actors in the regions particularly affected by the war. It thus makes German and European solidarity tangible on the ground. 

In the past, the initiative has equipped Ukrainian deminers to clear towns and villages of Russian explosive ordnance. It also supports Ukraine in protecting nuclear power plants and maintaining the energy supply after brutal attacks on Ukrainian power facilities.