Recovery Diary episode: €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine,over 5,000 patients evacuated to Europe and modernisation of transport and skills 

EU NEIGHBOURS East, in partnership with Ukrainian television channel ICTV, has released the thirteenth – and final – episode of the ‘Recovery Diary’. 

The episode highlights last week’s final approval of the €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, agreed by the European Council in December 2025. The loan will help cover the country’s most urgent budgetary and defence industrial capacity needs in 2026 and 2027 and will be made available in two ways, and with the following indicative break-down: €30 billion for macroeconomic support to Ukraine, channelled via macro-financial assistance or through the Ukraine Facility and €60 billion for Ukraine’s capacity to invest in defence industrial capacities, including procurement of defence products. 

It also shares the news that the European Commission has facilitated the safe transfer of over 5,000 patients from Ukraine to hospitals in 22 countries across Europe for specialised medical care under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This figure was reached with the latest flights on 15 April, bringing patients to Finland, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands.

More news highlighted in the episode about the European Commission investing €1.07 billion in 57 new projects for the European Defence Fund (EDF). These selected projects cover a wide range of critical sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI), cyber defence, drones and counter-drone systems. The EU is also deepening its cooperation with the Ukrainian defence industry, supported by the EU Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv. One key initiative, Project STRATUS, will develop an AI-powered cyber defence system for drone swarms. It includes a Ukrainian subcontractor, ensuring the project benefits from direct battlefield experience.

This episode also features a report on modernising urban transport in Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Lviv, Lutsk, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Mykolaiv. The programme, run by the Ukrainian Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, is supported by a €200 million EIB loan and by €3.5 million in EU technical assistance. The new buses, tramways, and trolleybuses will have low floors, making them easier to use for the elderly, people with disabilities and parents with prams. The vehicles are also quieter, more comfortable, and less energy-intensive, with air conditioning and real-time information systems.

The episode also mentions the EU-supported renovation of a kindergarten in Irpen, the construction of bomb shelters at a school in Zaporizhzhia, the reconstructed hostel for displaced persons in Zolochiv, Lviv region, and a house for IDPs in Zvyahel, Zhytomyr region.

Another report concerns EU investments in vocational education in Ukraine, in particular in the Kryvyi Rih, Poltava and Vinnytsia regions. For example, in Vinnytsia, as part of the EU-funded EU4Skills project, the modernisation of two vocational and technical educational institutions has been completed – Vinnytsia Vocational College of Services and Vinnytsia Vocational College of Digital Technologies and Entrepreneurship.

The European Union remains Ukraine’s strongest partner, playing a critical role in recovery, reconstruction, and the reforms needed for EU accession. Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the EU has mobilised €177.5 billion in humanitarian, financial, economic, and military assistance.

The Recovery Diary is a television series produced by EU NEIGHBOURS East in partnership with ICTV. The series documents real progress across Ukraine, highlighting recovery and reconstruction efforts supported by the EU and its Member States.

Watch the episode
Episode on YouTube