Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Transport and Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro (pro term), went to Kyiv on the occasion of the first payment of €100 million of the loan to Ukraine. It was made available from the EU Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programme for the country, which worthed €1.61 billion in total. A further €500 million was expected to follow in the weeks after, once the necessary legal procedures in Ukraine had been finalised, notably the ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and of the Loan Agreement by the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Jan Tombiński, Head of the Delegation of the EU to Ukraine, accompanied Siim Kallas during his meetings.The objective of the MFA programme was to assist Ukraine economically and financially in the critical stage of its development. It was part of the package to support Ukraine announced by the EC on 05/03/2014 and endorsed by the European Council the day after. The EU's MFA would complement the resources made available by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors in the context of the stabilisation and reform programme prepared by the Ukrainian authorities with the help of the IMF. The assistance aimed to reduce the economy’s short-term balance of payments and fiscal vulnerabilities.Siim Kallas then visited the Independence Square (Maidan Square) which had been the site of the political revolution in Ukraine from December 2013 to March 2014. He notably made a speech at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center. The Vice-President eventually met with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Prime Minister.