Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked EU leaders in Brussels for nearly $80 billion (€70 billion) more next year and left the summit with applause but no number attached.
“This is a realistic amount and I ask you to find this support,” he told reporters on Friday. “It will help us hold Russia back.”
The EU gave Kyiv a loan of approximately $100 billion (€90 billion) last year, which makes it Ukraine’s largest international backer. Kyiv now says that is not enough. Olena Prokopenko, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told DW that the war is “becoming objectively more expensive” and that Russian strikes are hitting the Ukrainian economy, cutting tax and customs revenues sharply. “So the needs will continue growing,” she said.
A cold winter and a cooler Washington
Zelenskyy said “Putin wants to destroy us” and told reporters Ukraine must prepare for a hard winter. Prokopenko agreed, calling it “arguably the most difficult winter since [Russia’s] full scale invasion.”
He arrived in Brussels while his relationship with the United States is worsening. President Donald Trump told Newsmax that he finds Zelenskyy “more difficult to deal with than” Vladimir Putin. Trump struck a deal to buy Russian diesel on October 12, a step back from sanctions on Russia. When Zelenskyy ordered fresh strikes on Russian oil refineries, Trump called it “a disgrace.”
Zelenskyy said he knows US-built missiles “are being sent to the Middle East, so it is no secret that we are not a priority.” The US was Ukraine’s biggest military donor after the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but ties have grown harder since the start of Trump’s second term. Zelenskyy is turning to Europe for the military power Ukraine needs to get through the winter.
Starlink
Ukraine relies on Starlink and on Starshield, its military-grade version, for battlefield communications, mid-range strikes on Russian-occupied territory and interceptor drones, though not for long-range strikes inside Russia. Zelenskyy described his “deep and unpleasant” surprise on learning that those systems were being disrupted, and said it hobbled Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Elon Musk and the White House both deny responsibility for the slowdown.
Speed has improved but is not fully back, Zelenskyy said, and Ukraine is working with several countries, France among them, on a partial fix. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “Starlink is really necessary for Ukraine and unfortunately in [the] short term Europe can’t replace this capability.” Prokopenko drew the conclusion that Ukraine’s most credible medium-term option is continued reliance on the US, with the EU pressing Washington to keep the technology available.
What the EU promised
European Council President Antonio Costa closed the summit by saying Ukraine “remains a priority.” He asked the European Commission to draw up a proposal to gather more funds for Ukraine in 2027. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU will “continue to lead” but urged international partners to step up too. How the money would be found is not yet clear.
Zelenskyy ended his press conference on a personal note: “We will keep living and fighting with dignity.”
Sanctions and the strike exchange
Earlier, a July report from Dagens, citing Al Jazeera, described an exchange of long-range strikes that left at least eight civilians dead, among them a young child. A Russian attack on a food production facility in Pavlohrad killed three people and injured ten. A three-year-old died in a residential fire near Voronezh after an intercepted Ukrainian drone crashed into a home.
In the same period EU diplomats finalized a 21st sanctions package. It sets financial curbs on more than one hundred Russian banks and cryptocurrency operators and names over fifty defense contractors and industrial entities that make long-range attack drones. At least forty shadow fleet vessels are blacklisted. The price cap on Russian crude is frozen at $44.10 per barrel for twelve months. Greece won a one-year renewable exemption letting European shipping fleets move Russian LNG to non-EU countries, while direct LNG imports into EU states stay banned.
Sources
- Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speaks at EU summit amid spat with Donald Trump
- Deadly long-range strikes trigger fresh EU sanctions as Ukraine-Russia war escalates | Dagens.com
