The Financial Times has learned from insiders that the European Union is currently actively seeking about $19 billion. This is the amount that will cover Ukraine's budget deficit in 2026.
Points of attention
- International Monetary Fund highlights that Ukraine's financial needs for 2026 are currently met, assuming an end to the war, which is not believed to happen soon.
- One proposal being considered is to offer military support to Ukraine through bilateral grants, potentially impacting national defense spending accounts.
The EU will try to cover the Ukrainian budget deficit
Official Brussels cannot ignore the fact that the projected budget deficit of Ukraine for 2026 has still not been covered by external financing.
This provoked a new wave of concern among Kyiv's allies, especially those who were counting on a ceasefire and an end to the war.
Currently, Ukraine's partners are hastily recalculating their costs to solve this problem.
"They realize that no matter how hard they try, they will still have a (financial — ed.) hole," a senior EU official told the media.
As noted by the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine's financial needs for 2026 are currently covered.
However, what is important to understand is that this is assuming the war ends this year or in the middle of next year. At the moment, neither Kyiv nor Brussels believes in such a scenario.
One of the proposals that Kyiv has shared with the G7 countries and that is being considered by the European Commission is to provide military support to Ukraine in the form of bilateral grants, which would be accounted for separately as "extra-budgetary external transfers" but would also count towards national defense spending.
