The European Commission has transferred a further €3.47 billion to Ukraine to pay for drones, missiles, air defence systems and combat aircraft, the latest instalment of the European Union’s €90 billion support loan.
The payment, made on July 30, took the sum released under the loan’s defence strand to €8.5 billion. Total disbursements under the instrument now stand at €11.7 billion.
Brussels said the money would finance a further round of Ukraine’s drone procurement programme, including long-range jet-powered models, along with missiles and Saab Gripen fighter jets.
The Commission is aiming to move €28.3 billion this year to build up the Ukrainian military industry. Budget spokesman Balazs Ujvari told reporters more financing programmes and transfers would be approved over the coming weeks and months.
He said the summer and autumn would be intense and that the Commission would not break off the process over the holidays.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new support would strengthen Ukraine’s ability to protect its airspace and its population while binding European and Ukrainian defence industries closer together.
“Every Russian strike strengthens Ukraine’s determination to be free,” she said.
The disbursement follows a first payment of €3.2 billion on June 25 under the loan’s macro-financial assistance strand, which covers the functioning of the Ukrainian state and its public services.
A further €3.9 billion was released on June 30 for drones, with €1 billion more paid out on July 15 during von der Leyen’s visit to Kiev.
The loan was agreed by EU leaders in December 2025 but sat blocked for months by Hungary. It was finalised by the Council of the European Union on April 23, after Viktor Orbán’s election defeat brought a change of government in Budapest.
Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia opted out of the scheme, so it was taken forward under the enhanced cooperation procedure, which allows willing member states to act without unanimity.
Of the total, €60 billion is reserved for defence industrial capacity and €30 billion for budget support across 2026 and 2027.
The money is raised through common EU borrowing on the capital markets and backed by the EU budget. Ukraine becomes liable to repay the principal only if it receives war reparations from Russia.
The Commission has put the cost of servicing that debt at about €1 billion in 2027 and around €3 billion a year from 2028, to be carried by the EU budget.
The announcement came as Russian air strikes killed at least eight people across Ukraine, including one in Kiev, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that a large attack was imminent.
