EU presses partners to deliver Ukraine funding ahead of UN week

Jorge Valero and Alessandra Migliaccio, Bloomberg News on Sep 19, 2026

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The European Union is pressing international partners to provide funding to Ukraine as the country faces increasing financing needs amid a tense battlefield situation before the winter.

“When we were putting forward Ukraine support loan, the idea was that should cover around two-thirds of Ukraine’s funding needs, and one third should be covered by other international partners,” EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis said after a meeting with the bloc’s finance ministers in Dublin, joined by their British, Swiss and Canadian peers.

Earlier this year, the EU adopted a €90 billion ($103 billion) loan package to support Kyiv for 2026-2027, but military costs have already left a shortfall of around $27 billion. The International Monetary Fund, together with the commission, are assessing how substantial Ukraine’s gap will be for next year.

Against this backdrop, the EU is pushing other countries including the U.K. and Japan to provide financial support and this issue will be on top of EU officials’ agendas when they meet with their counterparts in New York during the United Nations General Assembly next week, people familiar with the matter said.

Ukraine Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, who also attended the Dublin gathering, said that the 2027 shortfall could be at least $32 billion, but his international partners are still assessing the numbers.

“Ukraine is facing larger funding needs because Russia’s aggression — if anything — is increasing,” Dombrovskis said. “In a relatively short time we should be able to clarify the gap.”

The EU commissioner also acknowledged that discussions for providing financial support would be helped if Ukraine delivers on the reform plan agreed with donors. Some of the proposals, including on taxes, remain stuck in the country’s parliament.

Any progress on reforms and third-country funding support would also help unlock additional money from EU countries, the people added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

Some EU member states have returned to the idea of using part of €210 billion immobilized Russian central-bank assets in Europe, while others are suggesting that issuing additional joint debt could be the workable solution.

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(With assistance from Alexander Weber, Mark Schroers, Dasha Afanasieva, Daniel Basteiro, William Horobin, Kamil Kowalcze and Andrew Langley.)

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