The European Union has transferred an additional €30 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, raising its total contribution to the mechanism to €279 million, First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

The transfer is the latest in a series of contributions to the fund from Ukraine's partners. Luxembourg also added funds to the same mechanism recently, and Denmark contributed more than €10 million, European Pravda reported.

What the funding supports

In his Telegram post, Shmyhal described how the fund is used:

"The funds coming in through this financial instrument help us restore the energy infrastructure damaged by Russian attacks, purchase critically needed equipment for our energy companies, and ensure a reliable energy supply, above all for critical infrastructure," Shmyhal wrote.

Ukraine will soon be able to use the European Union's €60 billion defense loan to purchase weapons from British manufacturers under a new EU-UK agreement expected to be announced next week, according to Bloomberg.

The agreement would bridge one of the remaining gaps between the EU's defense financing and one of Ukraine's largest military suppliers, giving Kyiv greater flexibility to source weapons from British manufacturers using EU-backed funding.

Citing people familiar with the negotiations, Bloomberg reported that the agreement is expected to be unveiled at the UK- and France-led "Coalition of the Willing" meeting in Paris on 13 July. The arrangement would allow British defense companies to participate in the EU-backed procurement program after months of negotiations between Brussels and London.

UK firms to gain access to EU-backed procurement

According to Bloomberg, Ukraine will be able to use the €60 billion loan provided by the EU to purchase military equipment from UK defense companies.

Rather than paying a fixed fee for access to the program, the British government would make financial contributions tied to individual contracts whenever Ukraine chooses to spend part of the loan on British-made equipment. 

The contribution would depend on the value of each contract and associated interest costs, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the talks.

The arrangement would deepen defense-industrial cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom while giving Kyiv greater flexibility in sourcing weapons from one of its closest military partners.

Separate from broader EU defense fund

The reported agreement follows months of separate negotiations over UK participation in the EU's €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defense fund, which have yet to produce a breakthrough.

Bloomberg said talks on the Ukraine loan advanced more smoothly, with several EU member states, including the Netherlands, supporting rapid approval. Officials reportedly viewed the arrangement as beneficial for Ukraine because it would simplify purchases from British defense firms as Ukraine and the UK continue integrating their defense industries.

Support for Ukraine's expanding military needs

The reported agreement comes as Ukraine's European partners seek to strengthen Kyiv's military capabilities ahead of another winter of fighting.

Bloomberg reported that European diplomats believe Ukraine has gained a tactical advantage in recent months through increasingly effective long-range strikes against Russian military and logistics infrastructure. 

At the same time, allies are seeking to expand supplies of air defense systems and deep-strike capabilities as Russia continues large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.

According to Bloomberg, the agreement was largely finalized on the sidelines of this week's NATO summit in Ankara and could be formally announced during Monday's meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris.

The International Olympic Committee's decision to lift its years-long suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee has triggered calls in the EU to revoke the body's European funding, Politico reported. The IOC provisionally reinstated Russia's Olympic body on 7 July, paving the way for Russians to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. 

Russia cleared for Los Angeles 2028

The IOC announced this week that it would pave the way for Russians to compete at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, though Russia's flag and anthem remain banned. Russian athletes have been barred or forced to compete as neutrals since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC formally took the decision to provisionally reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee on 7 July.

Estonia targets the IOC's EU money

Estonia said it would propose that the European Commission cut off cash for the IOC by excluding the Olympic body from the EU's funding programs, including Erasmus+.

"It is impossible to understand decisions that seek to bring aggressor countries back into international sport as if nothing had happened," Estonian Culture Minister Heidy Purga said.

European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef appeared to signal support. 

"Athletes should not pay the price for the decisions of their governments. But sport cannot become a back door for normalizing aggression. If dialogue cannot guarantee that, the EU and its member states must be ready to consider proportionate steps to defend the values international sport is built on," he told Politico.

Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže called the IOC's move a "dangerous message." She argued that "Russia's imperial ambitions seek not only to annex Ukraine's territory, but also pursue international legitimacy of its conquests. It pursues both through every international platform available."

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The decision drew condemnation across the Atlantic as well. US lawmakers reacted with incredulity. The IOC has told Russia and the world that "you can bomb civilians one day and still proudly wave your flag at the Games the next," Republican Senator Rick Scott wrote.

Kyiv: the ruling breaks the logic of sanctions

Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi called the decision an "alarming signal" for the world and asked international sports federations to uphold their bans on Russian athletes.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine's presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, stated that the IOC ruling contradicts the logic of international sanctions pressure, since Russian sport works as an instrument of state propaganda and support for the war. The Ukrainian World Congress demanded that the IOC cancel the decision altogether.

Russia keeps killing Ukrainian civilians daily — yet the Olympic movement now offers the aggressor state the international stage its war has cost it. The IOC's reinstatement hands Moscow a propaganda victory no battlefield advance has delivered, normalizing the aggressor while its missiles level Ukrainian apartment blocks.