Ukraine needs about 10 billion to equip the army with weapons through March 2027 — Zelenskyy
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine is short of 27 billion for defense needs, of which 10 billion is needed for weapons in January–March 2027. Zelenskyy urged the EU to accelerate the loans.
Ukraine has a funding deficit for defense needs. Approximately 10 billion is needed to provide Ukrainian soldiers with weapons in January, February, and March 2027. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated this in an address to participants of the Ukraine–Nordic and Baltic Countries Summit, reports UNN.
Details
According to Zelenskyy, due to the specifics of forming the defense budget at the beginning of this year, the government and the Ministry of Defense used funds that had been planned for the end of the year. A significant portion of these funds went toward purchasing more drones and covering other urgent defense needs. Therefore, Ukraine currently has a significant funding deficit.
One of the main ways to cover it is to bring forward to this year part of the European loan financing planned for next year. The total deficit currently stands at 27 billion. Approximately 10 billion of this amount is needed to provide our soldiers with weapons in January, February, and March 2027. That is why we have to start now—to pay and produce. Otherwise, in January and February, we will have nothing. That is, we will have something, but not enough. So in February, as I have already said, there will be weapons that are already being produced, including a significant amount of equipment manufactured in Europe, by the way. I think we also need to discuss this. We are looking for ways to cover this deficit
The head of state called on the summit participants to help Ukraine secure the adoption at the European level of a decision to release these loan funds early.
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