Agreement on the two-year loan totaling 90 billion euros was reached at the last EU leaders' summit in December. The idea is that the member states will jointly cover the loan - although the reluctant trio of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been allowed to stand aside.
We all want peace for Ukraine, and to achieve that, Ukraine must be in a position of strength, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference when the details were presented.
The first payments are expected as early as April, if the accelerated decision-making process goes as planned among the member states and in the European Parliament.
A key question has been whether Ukraine should be able to use the EU loan to buy weapons from countries outside the EU. The answer is yes - but only if those weapons cannot be obtained more quickly elsewhere.
The money will be used to buy military equipment mainly from Ukraine, the EU and EFTA countries. But it will also be possible to buy outside the EU, von der Leyen said.
Ukraine will only have to start repaying the loan once the country has received war reparations from Russia for the damage caused.
