International help for the government of Ukraine – Commons Library Standard Note

As violence in the east of the country increased, the Ukrainian economy, for which the industrial and more affluent east is important, continued to deteriorate. Western countries had offered political support to the Ukrainian government, had sent non-lethal weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces and had given hundreds of millions of pounds of aid, with billions more in loan facilities.

There were predictions that the Ukrainian financial crisis would get worse and that Ukraine would need to borrow far more money to avoid financial collapse.

Western nations were divided as to whether to send lethal weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces. Meetings in Moscow and Minsk with the French and German leaders in February 2015 were described as a last chance to avert war.

• Primary Source

IMF: IMF and Ukraine https://www.imf.org/external/country/ukr/

ESO: Background information: Merkel and Hollande bring peace plan to Kyiv and Moscow http://www.europeansources.info/record/merkel-and-hollande-bring-peace-plan-to-kyiv-and-moscow/

ESO: Key Source: Euromaidan - Protests in Ukraine 2013 - 2015 - Key source http://www.europeansources.info/record/euromaidan-protests-in-ukraine-2013-2015/

EU: EEAS: Ukraine http://eeas.europa.eu/ukraine/index_en.htm

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