Media: Europe is unable to fund all of Ukraine's requests

Europe is unable to provide the additional multibillion-dollar funding to Ukraine that the Kyiv authorities are asking for, the newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes.

As the publication notes, Vladimir Zelensky's requests for tens of billions of dollars "could not have come at a worse time for European governments." European officials, the newspaper points out, are privately warning that they will not be able to "pay for everything Ukraine wants."

The growing popularity of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Germany and Marine Le Pen's "National Rally" in France, which oppose funding Ukraine, is forcing European leaders to refuse new commitments to financially support Kyiv.

It is noted that the EU is currently "trying to avoid resuming discussions about providing new funds, given the possible political consequences."

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that Zelensky's statements about a multibillion-dollar budget deficit in the defense ministry surprised European officials and raised the question of how effectively Kyiv is spending the funds allocated to it.

At the end of last month, Zelensky complained that the budget deficit at the Defense Ministry amounts to $27 billion, of which $8-10 billion is needed to supply weapons and almost $20 billion for salaries.

For several years now, Ukraine has been drawing up its budget with a record deficit. In Kyiv, they acknowledge that the country has completely exhausted its own resources and that finding funds is becoming increasingly difficult. On August 18, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Kyiv had "reached the ceiling" of international support and would not be able to receive more from the West than is currently being provided. According to him, Kyiv must be extremely attentive about what it can count on from outside. Nevertheless, in 2027 the government wants to receive an even larger sum from partners — $52 billion.