BRUSSELS, January 27. /TASS/. The EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council has approved granting Ukraine €1.8 billion as macro-financial assistance by the European Commission, which needs urgent implementation, according to Michelle Sapene, the French Minister of Finance.

This measure would be the third financial assistance step requested by Kiev, and the EU is ready to support Ukraine in further reforms, said Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission Deputy Chairperson at the press conference.

If the program is approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council, it can be carried out in three tranches during the period of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, €600 million each.

According to TASS' European diplomatic source, some of the Ministers insisted on increasing the additional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine to €2.5 billion.