In the summer, Ukraine said it needed another €27 billion because of rising military spending and asked Brussels to disburse early part of the loan, which is intended to support the country until the end of 2027. According to Bloomberg sources, the EU believes that an earlier payment would only shift the problem to 2027.
Agency interlocutors say that the EU loan should cover about two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs, while the remaining part, according to European officials’ plan, should be provided by partners. Among them they named Canada, Norway, and Japan.
Sources also said that €45 billion from the loan earmarked for 2027 will be disbursed promptly, but not before the start of next year. At the same time, the EU and Ukraine will begin work to determine additional budgetary and defense needs.
In September in New York, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Volodymyr Zelensky that the EU still has €37 billion in budget support for 2026. She linked these funds to Kyiv’s reforms to combat the shadow economy, increase tax revenues, and bring Ukrainian legislation closer to EU standards.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week estimated Ukraine’s future financing gap at $30–35 billion in 2027, $17 billion in 2028, and $2 billion in 2029. IMF representative Julie Kozack said the fund is discussing the size of the gap with Kyiv and international partners and is working on combining the second and third reviews of the $8.1 billion program by December.
According to Kozack, further financing depends on obtaining sufficient and reliable guarantees to cover the shortfall. Bloomberg writes that no decision has yet been made on accelerating the EU loan payments, and that this is specifically about refusing to speed up the already planned disbursement of funds.
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