What weapons will Ukraine purchase with EU's €90 billion package and why are the payments stalling?
Ukraine has received only €8.1 billion under the EU's €90 billion "loan" (in practice, non-repayable assistance).
Of this amount, €4.9 billion has been allocated to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while €3.2 billion has gone towards supporting the Ukrainian state budget.
By the end of 2026, Kyiv could receive an additional €23.4 billion for the Armed Forces' most urgent needs and another €13.5 billion for budget support.
The funding is available. However, it will only be transferred to Ukrainian accounts if certain conditions are met. Budget support is provided exclusively in exchange for reforms, while military assistance is disbursed only after properly executed procurement contracts with suppliers have been submitted and verified.
Read more about how the €90 billion package is being disbursed, why payments have been delayed and what Ukraine needs to do to prevent similar bottlenecks in the future in the article by European Pravda's Brussels correspondent Tetiana Vysotska – Missiles, drones and reforms: how EU is allocating military aid to Ukraine and what's delaying the payments.
A total of €28.3 billion has been allocated in 2026 for the procurement of weapons under the €90 billion package.
Unlike budget support, these funds are not contingent on reforms. Ukraine simply has to submit production schedules to its EU partners – detailed lists of the military equipment, weapons and ammunition it plans to purchase – as well as legally compliant contracts confirming the planned expenditures.
As it turns out, the contracts have become the main stumbling block.
The first production schedule submitted by Ukraine covered €6 billion worth of domestically produced drones. However, Kyiv submitted the supporting procurement contracts to the European Commission with considerable delay, and the volume of documentation was too large to be reviewed under the accelerated approval process.
As a result, on 30 June 30, the final day before the politically announced deadline, when the EU had pledged to make its first payments by the end of the second quarter of 2026, it was able to transfer only €3.9 billion for drone procurement.
The review of Ukraine's documentation continued after that payment. Consequently, on 15 July, the EU transferred an additional €1 billion.
This means that €1.1 billion from the initial €6 billion drone procurement package remains unpaid. The funds are available, but the required documentation from Kyiv is still incomplete.
Ukraine's second production schedule, also worth €6 billion, is likewise dedicated to domestically produced drones. As of the beginning of this week, the EU still had not received a sufficient number of reviewed contracts confirming these purchases, which is why the next tranche of payments has been delayed. In other words, the money is there, but bureaucratic obstacles are preventing it from being disbursed.
One aspect of the delay did originate on the EU's side. The issue concerned the use of Chinese-made components in drones. Under EU funding rules, Chinese components may account for no more than 35 percent of a product. That issue has now been resolved.
As things stand, Ukraine is eligible to receive a total of €12 billion for drones under the first two production schedules, but €7.1 billion remains on hold because the necessary documentation has not yet been submitted by Kyiv.
Ukraine has submitted a third production schedule worth €1.5 billion, which covers the procurement of medium– and long-range missiles. These missiles will be manufactured by a joint venture involving Ukraine and an EU member state whose identity has not yet been disclosed.
The fourth production schedule, worth €2.5 billion, is earmarked for Swedish fighter aircraft.
At present, €12.3 billion allocated for 2026 remains unassigned because Ukraine has not yet submitted specific procurement requests. A substantial portion of this funding is expected to be spent on air defence systems.
In addition to the €28.3 billion allocated for weapons procurement, €16.7 billion has been earmarked for direct support of Ukraine's state budget in 2026. Unlike military funding, access to these funds depends on Ukraine implementing reforms, which the government and parliament have been carrying out more slowly than originally planned.