The EU parliament on Wednesday, February 11, approved a €90-billion loan for Ukraine, providing a financial lifeline to cash-strapped Kyiv four years into Russia’s invasion. Lawmakers voted by 458 to 140 in favor of the loan, intended to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s financial needs for 2026 and 2027 and backed by the EU’s common budget – after plans to tap frozen Russian central bank assets fell by the wayside.
“Support for Ukraine rests on a small number of countries and most if it comes from Europe,” centrist lawmaker Nathalie Loiseau said ahead of the vote. “It is our honor – and it’s in our interest because our security is at stake,” she said.
Under the scheme, Ukraine will be able to spend €60 billion of the loan on desperately-needed weapons to fight off Russia’s invasion, with the rest earmarked for general budget support.
The EU has said Ukraine would only need to pay back the money once Moscow coughs up for the damages President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has wrought. Brussels will cover interest costs, expected to hover around €3 billion per year, through the EU budget. “This is Putin’s war. Make Russia pay,” Karin Karlsbro, the centrist lawmaker steering the file through parliament, told lawmakers.
Member states reached a deal last week on the conditions for the loan, paving the way for Kyiv to get the funds it needs in the coming months. The European Commission is pushing for a first disbursement in April.
A key point was how much weaponry Ukraine can buy from outside the EU or from its own industry – with Kyiv pushing to be allowed to buy weapons from wherever it needs. France was seeking limits on purchases from outside the EU, while other countries had argued to open it up more to close partners such as Britain, Canada and Norway.
Under the compromise deal, Kyiv can use the loan to buy certain arms from countries beyond the EU if producers in the bloc cannot provide them quickly enough. That should mean Ukraine can use the funds to buy some weaponry from the United States, such as key Patriot air defense missiles.
And EU ambassadors agreed that firms from key allies like Britain that have provided considerable support for Ukraine could be eligible for a greater share of the funds. But that would depend on those countries being willing to cover a “fair and proportionate” share of the borrowing costs of the loan – whose exact level is yet to be negotiated with the countries concerned.
