EU might have to pay Ukraine an extra $27 billion this year, says Kyiv envoy

 

The EU might have to provide Ukraine with an additional $27 billion (€23 billion) this year, Kyiv’s ambassador to the bloc said, as the war-torn country struggles to plug a looming budget shortfall.

“We need an additional amount of money, $27 billion… and we need to find this money here in 2026,” Taras Kachka said at an event organised by Bruegel, a Brussels-based think-tank, on Wednesday. 

 

 

“So if there will be no progress with other partners, then for us, it would be natural to ask the EU for some kind of front-loading” of its planned disbursements for next year, he added.

Discussions are still ongoing with Canada, the UK, and Japan on providing Ukraine with additional financial support in 2026, Kachka said. 

 

 

His comments come after EU foreign ministers suggested on Tuesday they were considering accelerating disbursements of the bloc’s €90 billion loan to Ukraine, as Russian attacks intensify.

However, the European Commission, which manages the loan payouts, has downplayed the likelihood of frontloading the loan, amid concerns that this could exacerbate Ukraine’s fiscal woes in 2027. 

 

 The EU originally planned to split the loan evenly between 2026 and 2027. Just €11.7 billion has been disbursed so far, mostly for military support 

 

 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said last week that Kyiv faced a $27 billion shortfall but did not state that the EU might have to cover all of it. He has also previously urged the EU to frontload the €90 billion loan.

Kachka, a former deputy prime minister who was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador in July, also said that the EU might have to deter Russia for up to a decade once the war has ended, at a cost of as much as €1 trillion  

 

 

“This is a huge, huge project,” he said, adding that the money will also benefit Europe’s defence industry.

The EU and its member states have provided more than €220 billion in military and budget support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, according to the Commission. 

 

 

https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-might-have-to-pay-ukraine-an-extra-27-billion-this-year-says-kyiv-envoy/