€6.6 Billion Ukraine Aid Unblocked
EU member states agree to release €6.6 billion in military aid for Ukraine.
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EU member states have reached a political agreement to unblock €6.6 billion in European Peace Facility funds for military assistance to Ukraine, ending a deadlock that began in 2023 after Hungary vetoed the program. The package allocates €900 million to the EU military assistance mission, €1 billion to joint equipment purchases and €4.7 billion to reimburse member states for aid already provided. Some governments have said they will direct their reimbursement shares to Ukraine, but each will decide how much to send, so the amount that will directly benefit Kyiv is not yet clear. Further legislative acts must be adopted before the funds can be released.
Key Points
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine faces a defense-budget shortfall that must be addressed by October or November to cover payments for drone deliveries scheduled for early 2027. He said much of the deficit is funding for weapons, including Ukrainian-made drones and missiles.
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Hungary’s 2023 veto followed a dispute over Kyiv adding OTP Bank, Hungary’s largest commercial bank, to its list of “international sponsors of war.” The list was discontinued in 2024 after pushback from Western allies, but Hungary maintained its veto.
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The Euronews report says the deadlock was broken after Viktor Orbán lost parliamentary elections in April and Péter Magyar became prime minister; member states then negotiated the terms for releasing the funds.
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As the EU established other assistance programmes, the European Peace Facility’s role diminished: Euronews reports that the fund, once considered a central channel of EU aid and regularly topped up, eventually “fell off the radar” during the impasse.
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