Ukraine will need more than $40 billion in external financing in 2026, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome, Italy.
“The year 2026 is a challenge,” he said, speaking at the opening, “Our external financing needs will remain at over $40 billion. The key task should be to develop mechanisms and instruments that will allow us to raise these funds.”
The total defense and security budget for 2025 will be close to $50 billion, or 26% of the countryʼs GDP. The budget for the purchase of weapons hit a record, reaching $16.4 billion.
“Meanwhile, the budget’s own revenues will amount to $48.5 billion. Thus, external financing is critically important for us, as it allows Ukraine to direct its own resources to the defense of our country,” Shmyhal said.
So far this year, Ukraine has already attracted $22 billion in external financing. But, according to the prime minister, the challenge is 2026, with over $40 billion extra funding needed.
“For our part, we continue to work on consolidating internal resources. Thanks to the recovery of the economy and systemic changes, our state budget was overfulfilled by $1 billion in the first five months of this year,” the prime minister said.
During the Donor Platform’s meeting, Ukraine’s Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko urged “consistent and predictable” external support to maintain financial stability.
Ukraine expects full coverage of its external financing needs for 2025 – amounting to $39.3 billion – but Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine continues into 2026, budgetary needs will remain at least at the same level as in 2025.
“In the context of both the ongoing full-scale war and a possible scenario of active combat coming to an end, Ukraine requires consistent and predictable external support to maintain financial stability – achieved in close cooperation with partners since 2022. This is also the foundation for the country’s successful recovery,” Marchenko said.
At the end of June, Ukraineʼs government submitted amendments to the law on the state budget, increasing spending on the country’s defense capability by almost $10 billion.
Ukraine will spend Hr.412.4 billion ($9.87 billion) on defense during the second half of 2025, of which Hr 215.9 billion ($5.17 billion) will go towards weapon and equipment procurement.