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BRUSSELS, Belgium — Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker criticized the lack of transparency in Ukraine's finances, as President Volodmyr Zelensky attends the Oct. 16 EU leaders' summit to lobby for more financial support.
"So many numbers are swirling around that you have to put them in order... you have to make it transparent, where this (budget) hole comes from," Stocker told journalists.
Zelensky is asking EU allies for increased budgetary support, with Kyiv foreseeing a sizeable budget gap for 2027, though the exact size remains difficult to determine.
However, Stocker was not against providing financial support for Ukraine, as his Czech counterpart, Andrej Babis, seems to be.
"We have to classify so that we know how we can shape the support and solidarity with Ukraine in the future," Stocker said.
The Kyiv Independent reviewed the draft budget in Ukraine's parliament, which, as of Oct. 7, contained a Hr 1.66 trillion ($40 billion) budget shortfall for 2027.
But then Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi wrote on social media on Oct. 14 that Ukraine's needs for 2027 "top $52 billion." He also said the "military's off-budget requirement is estimated at $45 billion."
Adding to the confusion is that officials either refer to a single budget hole or spin out the country's defense needs as a separate financial gap.
A senior EU official familiar with Ukraine's 2027 financial planning strategy told the Kyiv Independent that the numbers Koretskyi posted are "again new numbers."
The estimates the EU had received amounted to approximately 70 billion euros ($78.8 billion), the official said.
Stocker said he is ready to believe Ukraine about rising costs "due to these intensified and massive attacks by Russia... but the fact that this is immediately reflected in a budget gap is something you will have to talk about."