Social payments in Ukraine could be suspended

The Ukrainian authorities fear a shortage of funds to cover social spending in the second half of the year because of delays in macro-financial assistance from the European Union.

This was reported by Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources within the president’s team.

European partners are promising to solve the problem of allocating the €90 billion loan and to get around Hungary’s veto. For now, however, Ukraine is forced to rely on its own internal resources.

“For now, we are drawing from our own budget. But if the EU comes up with nothing, it may turn out somewhere in the second half of the year that there is still a little money left for the army, but none for social payments. And then it will be completely unclear what to do,” the publication quotes one senior official from Zelensky’s team as saying.

In addition to financial instability on the EU side, Kyiv is facing a real threat of losing U.S. support. According to the sources, American partners may withdraw from the negotiation process because of the lack of compromise on key issues, turning their focus instead to their own elections and the situation around Iran.

To avoid a scenario of a prolonged war without American support, Ukrainian representatives are continuing intensive negotiations and searching for new formulations. The Americans are even said to be ready to provide real security guarantees for Kyiv on the condition that Ukraine withdraws from Donbas, although the Presidential Office does not see how this could be implemented in Ukraine.