Ukraine’s mounting budget pressures are putting the European Union in an increasingly difficult position, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushes Brussels to release funding faster than originally planned — a request that risks unsettling a carefully balanced financial arrangement painstakingly agreed by EU leaders.

The issue surfaced prominently at a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Kyiv on Monday, held as Ukraine marked the 35th anniversary of its independence. Zelenskyy told allies that Ukraine’s Defence Ministry now faces a shortfall of roughly $27 billion, or about €23.1 billion, that must be covered to sustain the country’s war effort.

How the gap emerged

According to Zelenskyy, the shortfall is not the product of unexpected overspending, but rather a consequence of Ukraine having already brought forward funds originally earmarked for the second half of the year to cover urgent costs in the first six months. Officials say the roughly €23 billion needed now would go toward military personnel, social support programmes, and weapons procurement — including around €6 billion in advance payments for equipment deliveries due at the start of 2027.

“We need more money, much more,” Zelenskyy told the gathered coalition. He argued that closing the funding gap was essential for Ukraine to keep up the pace of long-range strikes against Russian targets, framing continued military pressure as a key lever for eventually pushing Moscow toward genuine peace negotiations.

Zelenskyy’s proposed fi

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Zelenskyy’s preferred solution is for the EU to accelerate disbursement of part of its €90 billion loan package to Ukraine, which Brussels has split into two €45 billion tranches — one for 2026 and one for 2027. Under his proposal, some of next year’s allocation would be brought forward to plug this year’s hole, supplemented by contributions from other allies.

The European Commission’s initial reaction has been notably cautious. A Commission spokesperson said this week that Brussels had “not been told in bilateral channels officially” that Kyiv intended to formally request frontloading the funding, adding that officials remain focused on the financing plan already in place while continuing ongoing discussions with Ukrainian counterparts.

So far, the EU has disbursed €3.2 billion in budgetary aid and €8.35 billion in military assistance to Ukraine this year. A further €22 billion has been allocated for weapons purchases — including fighter jets and drones — though that money only becomes available once individual defence contracts submitted by Kyiv have been verified, a process officials say can be slowed by administrative errors or last-minute changes. Roughly €14 billion in additional budgetary assistance remains pending, with some payments tied to reform benchmarks that Ukraine’s parliament has been slow to approve.

Why frontloading is politically risky

Privately, EU officials have voiced scepticism about whether accelerating the loan schedule is either practical or wise. Changing the disbursement timetable would require legal amendments to the original agreement and force the European Commission to adjust its own borrowing plans on capital markets.

There is also a deeper political risk. The EU’s 27 leaders agreed to the €90 billion loan on the understanding that it would provide steady, predictable financing through 2026 and 2027, bridging the gap until the bloc’s next long-term budget takes effect in 2028. Bringing forward part of next year’s tranche could simply shift the funding crisis rather than solve it, leaving Ukraine facing a fresh shortfall later in 2027 — a year when several EU member states will be consumed by high-stakes national elections, making any request for additional emergency financing politically fraught.

The frozen assets question resurfaces

Adding another layer of complexity, Zelenskyy also raised the idea of tapping roughly €210 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets held largely in Belgium — an idea that was the EU’s original preferred financing mechanism before it collapsed under Belgian-led opposition last December, forcing leaders to pivot to the current joint-borrowing loan structure instead.

Latvia’s Prime Minister, Andris Kulbergs, voiced strong support for revisiting the idea, arguing that European taxpayers should not bear the cost when frozen Russian funds remain available. “Why do European citizens have to pay the full bill? It is Russian,” he said, speaking alongside Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Belgium, however, continues to demand extensive solidarity guarantees before agreeing to any use of the assets, and Euroclear — the Brussels-based institution holding the bulk of the frozen funds — is separately facing legal challenges from Russia over the matter. One senior EU official signalled little appetite among member states to reopen the debate for now, noting that “the obstacles and reservations… haven’t changed.”

A widening burden

Compounding Brussels’s dilemma is a broader concern that the EU is increasingly shouldering Ukraine’s financial needs alone. Officials note that, with the notable exceptions of the United Kingdom and Norway, other Western allies have not contributed as heavily as anticipated, while support from the United States — once a major donor — has effectively dried up.

With no easy resolution in sight, EU officials have signalled they will continue working within existing constraints for now, accelerating disbursements where possible while resisting pressure to reopen politically sensitive financing debates. As one senior official put it: “We will have to cross the bridge when we get there.”