In a decisive move to ensure Ukraine’s long-term stability, European Union leaders have forged a historic agreement to provide Kyiv with €90 billion (approximately $105.5 billion) in financial support for the years 2026 and 2027. The deal, announced by European Council President Antonio Costa in the early hours of Friday, December 19, 2025, in Brussels, represents a critical commitment to Ukraine’s future as it continues to defend its sovereignty.
“We have a deal,” Costa stated in a post on social media platform X. “Decision to provide 90 billion euros of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered.”
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This agreement comes after intense negotiations, as a previous proposal to fund Ukraine using billions in frozen Russian state assets failed to gain the necessary unanimous backing among member states. The compromise reached underscores the EU’s complex balancing act: maintaining unity while delivering tangible, substantial support. The failure of the asset-seizure plan highlights ongoing legal and diplomatic caution within the bloc regarding the direct confiscation of sovereign assets, a move some nations consider a precedent with far-reaching implications.
The structure of the new €90 billion package is particularly significant. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz clarified the innovative and conditional financial mechanism: Ukraine will not be required to repay the loan until Russia has paid war reparations. Should Moscow fail to provide reparations, the frozen Russian assets held within EU jurisdictions will be leveraged to repay the loan. This creates a powerful link between Russian accountability and Ukraine’s financial relief, effectively making future Russian reparations the primary source of repayment and positioning frozen assets as the ultimate guarantee.
The urgency of this decision was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his discussions with EU leaders. He warned that without new funding, Ukraine faced a catastrophic budget deficit of €45-50 billion in 2026, which would force severe cutbacks, including a scaling back of domestic military production. Such a scenario would directly undermine Ukraine’s defensive capabilities and long-term economic resilience, increasing its dependency on sporadic aid and leaving it vulnerable to Russian aggression. This EU package, therefore, is not merely financial aid; it is a strategic investment in Ukraine’s ability to plan, produce, and sustain its own defense.
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Beyond the headline figure, this agreement serves multiple strategic purposes:
- Predictability: It provides Ukraine with a multi-year financial horizon, allowing for stable budgeting and long-term reconstruction planning, rather than operating from one short-term aid package to the next.
- Burden-Sharing: It formalizes a major collective EU commitment, distributing the financial responsibility across member states and reinforcing the bloc’s role as a cornerstone of Ukrainian support.
- Leverage for Justice: The repayment terms ingeniously tie the financial instrument to the post-war legal principle of reparations, keeping sustained political and financial pressure on Russia to compensate for the destruction it has caused.
In essence, the €90 billion deal is a multifaceted tool—simultaneously a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy, a shield for its military industrial base, a testament to EU cohesion, and a mechanism to hold Russia financially accountable. It moves support from emergency crisis management toward a more structured, conditional, and forward-looking framework for Ukraine’s survival and eventual recovery.
