The key facts

  • A source in the leadership of the Servant of the People party said the EU is ready to cover only part of Ukraine's request for €70 billion
  • On October 16, Zelensky requested €70 billion from Europe to finance the budget deficit
  • On October 23, António Costa spoke of readiness to cover about €46.7 billion — two-thirds of the amount

Europeans are ready to cover only part of the request

European partners consider Ukraine's request for additional funding of €70 billion to be inflated and are ready to cover only part of that amount. This was reported to Ukrainska Pravda by a source in the leadership of the Servant of the People party: “They say that 70 billion is a lot, but they are ready to cover part of it.” This is reported by Gazeta.Ru.

Timeline of the request and negotiations

On October 16, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky requested additional funding from Europe to cover the budget deficit, which, according to the outlet, amounts to €70 billion. On October 23, President of the European Council António Costa said Europeans were ready to cover two-thirds of the requested amount — approximately €46.7 billion. In November, Politico, citing EU representatives, reportedthat the European Union had asked Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and Norway for additional funds for Ukraine.

Why Kyiv is in a hurry

According to the source of Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine is seeking to reach an agreement on new financial assistance more quickly because of elections in European countries scheduled for 2027: after them, a “very unpredictable situation” may arise for Kyiv. A source in the Verkhovna Rada explained: “We are now working to include our funding in the European three-year budgets wherever possible. So that key parliaments now include our needs in their long-term plans, so that later it would be difficult to cancel, even if the ruling forces change.” Earlier, as the outlet notes, it already became known about Ukraine's growing dependence on foreign sponsors.