Ukraine received over 3 billion euros from the EU for missiles and drones

Ukraine received from the European Union another tranche of €3.3 billion under the Ukraine Support Loan program. The funds are planned to be directed to priority defense needs, including the purchase of missiles and drones.

Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi reported the receipt of funds on September 18.

"We received another tranche of €3.3 billion from the EU under the Ukraine Support Loan. We will direct the funds to priority defense needs, including the purchase of missiles and drones", he said.

Thus, the financing announced the day before has already arrived in Ukraine. On September 17, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated that €3.3 billion would be transferred the next day.

Ukraine Support Loan is an EU lending facility totaling €90 billion, designed to finance Ukraine's needs in 2026-2027. Approximately €30 billion is earmarked for budget support, and €60 billion for defense procurement.

The defense portion of the program is to finance the purchase and production of critically needed weapons. The European Commission has previously noted that after initial drone purchases, funding will also extend to ammunition, missiles, and air defense systems.

In June, the European Commission already transferred €3.9 billion to Ukraine under the defense portion of the Ukraine Support Loan. These funds were intended primarily for the purchase of modern unmanned systems.

A separate EU priority has been strengthening Ukrainian air defense. On September 16, von der Leyen announced that the EU had for the first time agreed to fund the purchase of American Patriot interceptor missiles for Ukraine.

The EU also plans to use part of the resources of the SAFE program for new joint defense projects with Ukrainian companies. One such area is to be Freya – a modular system for countering ballistic threats, which is planned to be developed using Ukrainian combat experience and European technologies.

Koretskyi thanked the President of the European Commission, the European Commission, and EU member states for their support of Ukraine and the strengthening of the Defense Forces.

Based on materials from: Serhiy Koretskyi, European Commission, European Commission