Fedorov asks EU for over EUR 6 billion for Ukraine's military needs

Ukraine is facing a serious deficit in financing its military needs, which is why Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has privately appealed to the European Union to allocate EUR 6.6 billion from the European Peace Facility (EPF) to meet Ukraine's urgent defense needs.

This was announced by Reuters, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Journalists have obtained a letter from the Ukrainian minister to European allies, dated June 26.

In the document, the head of the Defense Ministry provided clear calculations of Ukraine's military budget and explained the scale of the financial gap.

According to Fedorov, Ukraine's total defense needs for the current year amount to about EUR 136 billion.

At the same time, the country's domestic budget is able to cover only EUR 53 billion of this amount.

Another EUR 28.3 billion will be allocated as part of financial assistance from the EU, the total amount of which is EUR 90 billion.

That is, there is a critical shortage of money to support the front.

The Minister emphasized that it is the European Peace Fund that is capable of making one of the most significant European contributions to Ukraine's defense this year.

He also emphasized that the funds must be promptly directed directly to where they can generate the greatest military effect.

The issue of allocating funding has been blocked in Brussels for a long time.

On June 19, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly called on European partners to promptly transfer to Kyiv the unblocked EUR 6 billion from the European Peace Fund, but the final decision has not yet been made in the EU.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukraine recently received a EUR 3.9 billion loan from the European Union for drones and urgent support for the army.