BRUSSELS, Belgium, Nov 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine needs more than 70 
billion euro ($81 billion) in extra financial assistance to defend itself and 
keep the government running in 2026 as Russia's war drags on, the EU said 
Monday.

The European Commission spelt out Kyiv's needs in a paper circulated to 
member states as the 27-nation bloc debates whether to use frozen Russian 
assets to fund a new loan to plug Ukraine's looming budget black holes.

"The scale of Ukraine's financing gap is significant," commission chief 
Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a letter accompanying the paper seen by AFP, 
before outlining financing options and urging states to "rapidly" choose a 
way forward.

Citing International Monetary Fund projections based on Russia's war ending 
by the end of next year, Brussels said Kyiv's assistance needs would reach 
over 70 billion euros in 2026 and 64 billion in 2027.

Ukraine can independently provide for only about half of its military needs 
for next year - worth a total of 103 billion euro -- the paper said.

That leaves 52 billion euros in defence support and another 20 billion in 
macro-financial assistance -- for a total of 72 billion euros -- for allies 
to foot, the commission wrote.

The task of finding the money falls largely on the EU as, under President 
Donald Trump, the United States has cut off funding to Ukraine.

The commission has put forward a plan to use frozen Russian central bank 
assets to generate a 140-billion-euro "reparations loan" for Ukraine.

But that has faced opposition from Belgium -- where the bulk of the money is 
held -- which fears it could face legal reprisals from Moscow.

- Avoid 'paralysis' -

In the paper the EU executive listed two alternative options.

The first is for member states to underwrite grants to Ukraine and use wiggle 
room in the bloc's central budget to back those, while the second is to 
jointly borrow the money.

"Clearly, there are no easy options. But this reflects both the scale of the 
challenge and the historic nature of the responsibilities before Europe at 
this critical juncture for Ukraine," the paper read.

"Europe cannot afford paralysis, either by hesitation or by the search for 
perfect or simple solutions which do not exist."

While the document did not state a preference, von der Leyen said last week 
that using frozen Russian assets was the "most effective way" to finance 
Ukraine.

EU officials and diplomats have also warned that the alternative plans would 
incur greater costs for countries at a time when national budgets are under 
strain.

The commission is pushing for an agreement to be reached when EU leaders meet 
in December.

In a bid to assuage Belgian reticence, von der Leyen held talks with the 
country's Prime Minister Bart De Wever last week.