WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The European Union has disbursed the first 3 billion-euro ($3.4 billion) tranche of a 90 billion-euro ($101 billion) loan to Ukraine, the country’s prime minister announced Thursday at the opening of a conference on Ukraine's post-war recovery in Poland.
The conference, attended by key European leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is both a fundraising forum and a message to Russia that Ukraine’s Western supporters are in it for a long haul.
“We are forced to innovate to survive and this has become our superpower,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, adding that Ukraine was grateful for the support promised to her war-battered nation.
Von der Leyen reasserted the EU's financial commitment to Ukraine, just days after the country officially started EU membership negotiations on June 15.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, EU countries have provided 200 billion euros ($225 billion) in economic, financial and military support to Ukraine, and approved 90 billion euros ($101 billion) more over the next two years in the form of an EU support loan, she said.
The EU also will start paying another 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion), a second tranche from the loan dedicated to drone production, “in the coming days,” she added.
In a separate initiative, European leaders meeting in Gdansk said they're kicking off a European equity fund dedicated to investments in strategic sectors of the Ukrainian economy.
“With an initial public package of up to 220 million euros, we are creating the confidence and the risk-sharing mechanism that private investors need to engage now,” Merz said. The fund originated at last year's recovery conference in Rome, and is supported by the EU, Germany, Poland, Italy and France.
He said that although public funding alone will never be enough to rebuild Ukraine, “by investing now and committing long-term capital, Europe’s is sending a clear message: we believe in Ukraine’s future within the European family.”
The Ukrainian delegation is planning to sign 160 deals totaling over 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) during the conference in Gdansk, Svyrydenko said on Thursday.
Svyrydenko led the Ukrainian delegation after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pulled out just days before, following a dispute with Polish President Karol Nawrocki over World War II events that have strained the countries' relations.
Nawrocki this month stripped Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor, because Zelenskyy named a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during the war.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi German and Soviet forces. But it is accused in Poland of wartime killings of tens of thousands of Poles, most in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, which the Polish state qualifies as genocide.
Zelenskyy has since returned the award to Poland, with other Ukrainian officials also following suit.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Zelenskyy's absence at the conference might help reduce the tensions. Svyrydenko made no reference to the dispute in her speech.
"We can only build the future on the basis of truth, mutual respect and understanding the past,” Tusk said in his speech.
Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, welcomes Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the E5 NATO Summit in Berlin Germany, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least 164 people have died and 971 were injured after a pair of powerful quakes rocked Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under rubble.
Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country's main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
Television broadcasts Thursday showed rescue workers using power tools to work their way into piles of rubble where buildings once stood. Panicked residents of the capital were sent pouring into the streets, and after the quakes many people walked among the debris searching for the missing among collapsed buildings and toppled electric poles.
Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and one of the areas hardest hit by the quakes because of the large number of collapsed buildings.
Rodríguez said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which sits north of Caracas on the coast. She said officials were trying to make the most of the daylight hours to speed up efforts to rescue people believed to remain trapped under the rubble.
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said.
Video shared online appeared to show dozens of people, some lying on the ground and others on hospital beds, being treated outside a hospital in La Guaira.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
Rodríguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to Venezuela to assist.
During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street. Columns of dust rose in two typically busy neighborhoods in the capital.
“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage structures, and many people stayed on the streets for hours, some sitting on the ground hugging pets as dust gathered around them. Others spent the night in parked cars, subway stations and other public places.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone coverage, and the earthquakes damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said.
In Caracas, subway services were suspended and natural gas shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.
Roberto Gamas, another Caracas resident, said the building he was in “shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong.”
The lack of cellphone signal in parts of Venezuela deepened the distress of many families, particularly those among the more than 7.7 million people who have left the country during its protracted crisis and who struggled to reach relatives inside the country.
On Thursday, scores of people took to social media asking for help finding loved ones, posting pictures of missing relatives and their last known location.
Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, herself in exile, sent wishes on X for “strength, serenity, and solidarity.”
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles).
The USGS reported a 7.5 magnitude earthquake just a minute later, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.
Offers of help poured in from countries around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said in a post on X early Thursday that the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”
Rodríguez — who became acting president after an American military operation captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the U.S. to stand trial — thanked U.S. President Donald Trump. She said in an X post later that she spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. She also expressed thanks to the leaders of various nations who have sent messages of support and offers of help.
Ecuador ordered the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Rodríguez said Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had already sent rescue personnel.
“We send you all our solidarity and our prayers. Stay strong, Venezuela,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, once diametrically opposed to Venezuela’s government, wrote in a post on X.
Buildings in Manaus, Belem and Macapa in Brazil’s Amazon were evacuated, according to reports on TV Globo. The quakes also were felt in Colombia’s Caribbean and northeast regions.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several tsunami alerts that were quickly lifted.
While uncommon in Venezuela, earthquakes are frequent along the Pacific coast, including in Mexico and Chile, which both sit along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, an area that the USGS says is responsible for 90% of earthquakes.
Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Associated Press writers Clara Preve in Buenos Aires; Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia; Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo; Anna-Catherine Brigida, Megan Janetsky and India Grant in Mexico City; Cristina Fuentes in Madrid; and Maria Teresa Hernandez in Beijing contributed to this report.
Rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Campos)
People stay outside their homes after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
People sleep outside their homes following an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026 (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A boy comforts his mother after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A man holding a dog cries after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Campos)
Rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.(AP Photo/Javier Campos)
Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Rescue worker carry an injured man after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
