Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday the European Union will have to find more money to finance Ukraine, as Kyiv warns it faces a major budget shortfall next year.
“We must do everything we can to help Ukraine through the winter and also to help next year,” Merz said at the start of a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels for crunch budget talks.
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“We will have to increase the funds again here in order to really assist Ukraine on a lasting basis.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was heading to Brussels to join the meeting on Friday in a bid to rally support amid fresh tension with US President Donald Trump.
The war-torn country is facing a dire winter as Moscow has stepped up bombardments, and relations with Washington have soured after Trump struck a deal with Russia to supply diesel fuel.
The mood has darkened as Ukraine has complained that its battlefield access to the US-provided Starlink satellite communications system has been hampered.
EU leaders have thrown their support behind Zelensky.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians, and they have to do whatever is necessary to protect the Ukrainian people,” Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said.
“Let’s step up our game and make sure that they can win this senseless war.”
Others backed Ukraine’s right to target Russian refineries despite pressure from the United States to stop hitting Moscow’s oil production.
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US President Donald Trump has struck a diesel deal with Russian leader Vladimir Putin while the EU is struggling to reach a consensus on the next package of sanctions against Moscow.
“The faster all the Russian refineries and ability to sell energy will be blown to smithereens the better,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.
EU leaders are set to open discussions about how to keep Ukraine afloat next year in the face of a growing realisation that funds will run dry.
The EU has in place a 90-billion-euro ($101-billion) loan for Kyiv that was set to help cover funding to the end of 2027.
But the Ukrainian authorities have warned they will need tens of billions more as Russia’s strikes have battered the country’s economy.
The European Commission has said it is working with Kyiv to get a definitive figure for what is needed next year.
The talks around the new funding have reignited calls for the European Union to tap around 200 billion euros in frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine.
But there seems little momentum on that front as Belgium, where most of the funds are held, remains opposed.
Merz pushed back against any attempt by the United States to try to get Europe to hand over some of the money as part of Washington’s peace negotiations with Moscow.
“These are assets that are frozen in Europe, and they should remain frozen in Europe. This is our business, and we will decide on it,” he said.