EU pledges €200mln grants to Eastern Partnership members

PanARMENIAN.Net - The EU has agreed a €1.8bn ($2bn) loan to Ukraine - the largest financial deal with a non-EU member, BBC News reports.

The agreement was signed at an EU summit in Riga, Latvia, which brings together the leaders of the 28-member bloc and six post-Soviet nations.

The loan aims to help revive the cash-strapped economy of Ukraine, which has also been badly affected by fighting with pro-Russian rebels in the east. It requires Ukraine to adopt reforms, including anti-corruption measures.

Ukraine's decision to scrap a deal on closer ties with the EU sparked protests that toppled the previous president and led to the confrontation in the east.

In Riga, the EU also pledged €200mln grants to Ukraine and the other five Eastern Partnership members: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova.

Ukraine's economy continued its contraction in the first quarter of 2015, and Kiev faces huge bills to the country's international creditors in the coming months.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine that began in April 2014 when rebels seized large parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.