Ukraine faces €23B defence funding gap as Western aid trickles in too slowly

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KYIV — Ukraine faces a €23 billion hole in its defense budget this year, leaving Kyiv scrambling for cash to fight Russia even as Western leaders gathered in the capital to mark the country’s independence day and pledge ongoing support.

The money is needed not only for weapons and air defense, but also to pay soldiers, support the families of those killed and ensure Ukraine has the supplies it needs to start 2027.

“We are not asking [you] to fight for us. Give Ukraine everything to stop this war, to stop it faster than Putin can start the next one,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech Monday.

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham was in Kyiv Monday for a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing.

European Council President António Costa, Luxembourgish Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Estonian President Alar Karis, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and other Nordic and Baltic leaders also attended in person, while French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined remotely.

“Ukrainian people deserve not just continued support but our gratitude … I am determined we [the coalition of the willing] will work together to deliver the support you need,” Burnham said in a statement.

The funding gap originated after the defense ministry brought forward spending originally planned for the second half of the year, while the EU’s €90 billion loan was delayed by roadblocks from Hungary.

“At the beginning of the year, decisions were made at the ministry to use in the first half of the year funds that were intended to be disbursed in the second half,” Zelenskyy said during a meeting with reporters on Saturday. The shortfall comes on top of €30 billion in funding Europe has already pledged to Ukraine this year as part of the €90 billion loan.

Purchases made included “fiber-optic drones, middle-strike drones, interceptors,” former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told POLITICO in June.

“Now, in the second half of the year, those funds need to be compensated for and supplemented,” Zelenskyy added.

The European Commission offered some relief Monday, approving €6.1 billion in new defense procurement for Ukraine. This latest disbursement from the EU’s €90 billion loan package will fund air-defense missiles and ammunition, as well as radars — among Kyiv’s most urgent needs. But the money falls far short of what Ukraine says it requires.

Ukraine needs about €6.8 billion to €8.5 billion to ensure a “normal start” to next year, the Ukrainian leader said. That money is effectively needed in advance to pay for weapons and other supplies for January 2027. Around €17 billion more is needed for military salaries, payments to the families of fallen soldiers and other expenses.

“A lot of money is needed,” he added.

But domestic politics are also creating obstacles to international funding. Zelenskyy admitted that Ukrainian lawmakers are stalling the implementation of reforms on which some international aid is conditional.

Overall, parliament is currently delaying 24 reform bills tied to Western funding disbursement. While not all the funds are tied to defense spending, getting EU money would free up Ukraine’s scarce resources for other urgent defense needs.

Last week, the Ukrainian parliament’s law enforcement committee removed five government and judicial reform bills from consideration because they are no longer relevant, Ukrainian MP Anastasiya Radina said last week.

Maksym Buzhanskiy, a lawmaker from Zelenskyy’s party, defended the committee’s decision to remove the bills, claiming they do not correspond to Ukraine commitments needed for EU funding.

Zelenskyy is planning to ask for disbursement of EU funds ahead of schedule.

“I am working on this with the French and the Germans. Practically, we need to bring forward the second portion of the European funds allocated for Ukraine, and this is an extremely difficult task,” Zelenskyy said.