$27 billion in additional defence requirements: $7 billion will be covered by Ukraine, $12 billion will be raised jointly, and remainder represents critical need, - Marchenko
Ukraine’s Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko has stated that, despite comments from European Commission representatives that Ukraine will not face an external financing shortfall in 2026, the Ministry of Defence has an additional funding requirement for this year.
According to Censor.NET, Marchenko wrote about this on Facebook.
The day before, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, reported that following a joint meeting between EU and Ukrainian representatives on 1 October, the parties had concluded that there would be no need for additional international funding for Ukraine in 2026.
Ukraine has an additional defence requirement of $27 billion
Marchenko recalled that in August 2026, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence declared an additional defence requirement of $27 billion.
"This week, together with representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the European Commission, we held meetings in Brussels, where we discussed possible ways of meeting this requirement. We have drawn up a plan and set out our vision, but this does not mean that the problem does not exist," said the minister.
According to him, Ukraine plans to cover more than $7 billion of this requirement using domestic resources – through savings and the reallocation of expenditure.
Ukraine expects to find a further $12 billion or so through "joint efforts".
The remaining funds represent a critical need
Marchenko noted that the remaining amount remains a critical need.
"We are working together with the Ministry of Defence to identify sources of funding. The European Commission will not be able to cover it due to a lack of appropriate instruments this year," he emphasised.
According to the minister, it is important to separate the budgetary and military funding streams.
Thus, according to the Ukrainian side’s assessment, this represents an additional requirement for the defence budget, whilst following the meeting on 1 October, the European Commission specifically stated that there would be no external funding shortfall for Ukraine in 2026.
