EU does not plan to accelerate payments to Ukraine despite Zelensky's appeal

The European Union currently does not plan to accelerate payments to Ukraine under the €90 billion loan program, despite Kiev's growing defense financing needs. The funds, as originally envisaged, are to be provided throughout 2026 and 2027.

This was stated by the European Commission's chief spokesperson Paula Pinho during a briefing in Brussels.

According to her, the EU is aware of the scale of Ukraine's financial needs, but is currently focused on implementing the already agreed program.

"At the moment, even understanding all of Ukraine's needs, we see that the needs are great. But for now we remain focused on providing Kyiv with €90 billion, which is already an incredibly ambitious financing plan. This money will be allocated to Kyiv over two years", - stated Pinho.

Ukraine wanted to receive part of the money earlier

The EU loan was calculated for two years: approximately €45 billion is to be available to Ukraine in 2026 and another €45 billion in 2027. Of the total package, €60 billion is earmarked for defense needs, and about €30 billion for budget support.

President Volodymyr Zelensky previously stated the need to bring forward part of the European financing planned for next year. The reason was a significant additional defense financing deficit of Ukraine in 2026.

According to Zelensky, this is an extremely difficult task, which he discussed, in particular, with European partners. Ukraine needs additional funds for weapons, air defense, military supplies and other defense expenditures.

As early as August 25, the European Commission reported that it had not received an official request from Kyiv for early disbursement of 2027 funds at that time. Brussels emphasized that it is primarily working on disbursing funds already earmarked for 2026. The official EU plan provides for approximately €45 billion in financing for each of the two years.

EU capitals are not ready to move money

Politico also reported at the end of August that the implementation of the idea of early financing may face resistance within the European Union.

According to the publication, Zelensky would like part of the €90 billion loan to be allocated earlier, but it will be difficult to convince all EU capitals to agree to advance the funds, especially if Ukraine does not first implement the reforms linked to individual payments.

The issue arose against the backdrop of a review of Ukraine's war financing needs. Previously, the €90 billion package was designed to cover a significant part of the country's budgetary and defense needs until the end of 2027.

Europe has again turned to Russian assets

At the same time, the EU has renewed discussion on finding an additional source of financing for Ukraine. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland called on Brussels to reconsider possibilities of using over €200 billion in frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank.

These countries believe that the agreed loan may prove insufficient given the growing Ukrainian needs. The previous attempt to use the principal amount of frozen Russian assets failed due to legal and financial risks, which Belgium, where most of the funds are held, particularly insisted on.

Thus, at least for now, Brussels does not plan to cover Ukraine's additional needs by moving a significant part of the 2027 loan to 2026. The EU will continue to implement the approved two-year schedule, while discussing other sources of financing in parallel.

Based on materials from: European Commission, Politico