Western partners ban Zelensky from spending EU’s €90 billion loan on military salaries

Western countries have refused Ukraine the right to use the European Union’s €90 billion loan for payments to military personnel, demanding that the funds be directed exclusively toward the purchase of weapons and military equipment.

This was stated by Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Verkhovna Rada committee on national security, in an interview with Ukrainian radio NV.

According to Kostenko, Volodymyr Zelensky had expressed a desire for Ukraine’s Western partners to take on the payments to Ukrainian military personnel. However, when redistributing the first funds received from the loan, the partners imposed a strict condition: the money must go toward weapons, not salaries.

“The partners, even when they gave these €90 billion, and the first [funds] that we have now received were redistributed in the budget, their requirement was that this goes not toward wages but toward the purchase of weapons and military equipment. Salaries for our military — they say — that is your internal problem: ‘These are your internal resources, take them and handle their distribution.’ Of course, the main task now will be to find the funds,” Kostenko said.

The €90 billion loan for 2026–2027 was agreed upon by EU countries in April 2026. Meanwhile, on June 8, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense acknowledged that the budget lacks sufficient funds to pay military personnel. Zelensky had previously promised to raise soldiers’ salaries.

On June 10, the Verkhovna Rada passed amendments to the 2026 state budget without the promised pay raise for military personnel. This was reported by deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak. According to his data, the budget did not include the approximately €5.2 billion needed to cover current expenditures for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to increase military pay.

On June 11, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, at a meeting with Rada factions, confirmed this figure: a total of approximately €5.2 billion is needed to cover the funding deficit for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to raise military salaries.