Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday welcomed the decision of the European Union (EU) to release an aid of 500 million euros (about 568 million U.S. dollars) for Kiev.

"Sincerely grateful to the European Commission for positive decision to disburse to Ukraine first tranche of the 4th EU Macro-financial assistance program," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.

In mid-September, the European Commission has approved new aid for Ukraine worth 1 billion euros (about 1.14 billion dollars) to support economic stabilization in the country, including through structural and governance reforms.

With the fresh disbursement, the total macro-financial aid extended to Ukraine by the EU since 2014 will reach 3.3 billion euros (about 3.75 billion dollars), the largest amount of such assistance directed at any non-EU country.

According to local economists, Ukraine is in urgent need of external financing due to its huge foreign debt, of which some 15 billion dollars should be repaid next year.