EU leaders demonstrated broad backing for Ukraine’s request for an additional €70 billion ($79 billion) in financial assistance for 2027, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Zelensky expressed gratitude to European partners following the European Council summit in Brussels, stating that key interlocutors – including European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – treated the multi-billion-euro funding request with understanding.
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“I am very grateful to our European partners. We had a series of meetings that demonstrated unity around supporting Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
“I held many conversations, and there are very important agreements: this includes air defense and, crucially, money. We speak about this openly. For next year, we need an additional €70 billion to sustain our efforts and protect our state. And I am grateful to Europeans that no one said ‘no.’”
Zelensky highlighted that resolving Ukraine’s budgetary gap stood as a primary agenda item during high-level deliberations in Brussels, alongside urgent appeals for air defense packages.
Fico and Magyar reject prospective EU loan package
Despite general consensus among EU leadership, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Slovakia and Hungary will not participate in the initiative to provide Kyiv with the €70 billion aid package for 2027, Slovak daily Denník N reported on Saturday.
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Fico criticized the linkage between future EU budgetary deliberations and external financial support for Ukraine, characterizing such arrangements as hazardous for bloc cohesion.
While stating that Bratislava remains prepared to assist Ukraine through bilateral technical tracks – such as educational cooperation, cross-border road transport infrastructure, and electrical grid interconnectors – Fico affirmed that Slovakia will oppose another EU-level loan facility for Kyiv.
The Slovak prime minister added that Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar shares the same stance regarding the funding mechanism. Furthermore, Fico criticized the Oct. 15-16 Brussels summit for what he characterized as insufficient focus on peace initiatives and diplomatic avenues to end the war.
The Slovak and Hungarian objections introduce prospective procedural hurdles for EU financial architects, though European institutions have previously utilized specialized budgetary mechanisms and structured multilateral facilities to bypass single-member vetoes on Ukraine-related funding tranches.
European Commission tasked with structural options
The divergent reactions follow formal summit outcomes in Brussels on Friday, Oct. 16, where the European Council formally instructed the European Commission to draft concrete proposals to bridge Ukraine’s €70 billion financing deficit for 2027.
Following the summit, Costa confirmed that EU heads of state reached consensus on addressing Kyiv’s medium-term requirements, while Commission President von der Leyen reaffirmed that the projected €70 billion shortfall must be closed through coordinated allied contributions.
A senior EU official familiar with the leaders’ talks explained that the forthcoming Commission proposal remains in an exploratory phase, noting that deliberations on sourcing fresh capital can advance while disbursements continue under the existing €90 billion ($102 billion) loan facility, which already earmarks €45 billion for 2027.
Deliberations remain ongoing among European governments regarding whether the funding blueprint will incorporate proposals to leverage interest proceeds from roughly €210 billion in Russian sovereign assets immobilized across EU depositories.
French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed that international partners – including the Group of Seven (G7) and European allies – will review the €70 billion request in detail, while reiterating that European defense industries are concurrently accelerating programs to provide Ukraine with sovereign satellite imagery and early-warning architectures.
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