The first disbursement of the EU’s €90 billion loan for Ukraine will no longer include €5.9 billion in defence financing for drone production but will instead cover €3.2 billion in budget support, three EU officials confirmed to Euractiv.
The first disbursement is expected to take place on Thursday during the Ukraine Recovery Conference held in the Polish town of Gdansk, the three officials said.
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The sum will be part of the €30 billion available for macro-financial assistance in 2026-27. A bigger €60 billion share of the EU loan is earmarked to support Ukraine’s defence efforts.
The Commission is set to announce a second disbursement to cover Kyiv’s defence needs in the coming days, the sources added.
The EEAS and the Commission had both previously said that the first disbursement would tally €5.9 billion to enable Ukraine to procure drones with components made outside of the bloc or Ukraine.
But the reason for the change of plan is a technical issue involving the need for the EU to ensure it can properly monitor how the money is spent, two of the sources said.
Another three packages being prepared would go towards ammunition, air defence and drones, another high-ranking official said last month.
To tap into the loan, Kyiv shares an assessment of its defence needs with the Commission, with EU-made weapons first considered for procurement. But Ukraine can still use the envelope to buy weapons made outside of the EU through a series of derogations.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will skip the post-war recovery conference in Gdansk where the disbursement is set to take place amid a diplomatic spat with Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki. The Ukrainian delegation will instead be led by Prime Minister Yulia Svryrydenko.
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