EU leaders will press Andy Burnham at a summit in Brussels to contribute more to Ukraine’s defence effort in 2027. EU officials argue that the UK, Canada and Japan should do more to support Ukraine, but entreaties to these G7 countries for extra financial aid at recent international meetings have not been answered, Brussels says. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will call on the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, to contribute to Ukraine’s looming financial shortfall at an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next week.
A similar request to the British prime minister will be made when he meets von der Leyen and the European Council president, António Costa, for a long-awaited EU-UK summit on 20 November in Brussels. It comes as the UK chancellor, John Healey, prepares for his first budget next week, weighing numerous calls for more spending against the rising cost of government borrowing and a darkening economic outlook. Healey said earlier this month he was “working on different ways we can step up support for Ukraine – military, diplomatic and economic”.
Ukraine says it faces a €70bn (£58bn) funding shortfall in 2027 to pay for its defence and civilian needs. The EU and its member states are paying for 80% of Ukraine’s financial needs, according to the commission, which considers a “fair” EU share to be two-thirds, with the remaining third covered by other allies. The EU last year agreed a €90bn loan for Ukraine, intended to cover two-thirds of Kyiv’s funding in 2026 and 2027.
But as Russia escalates its attacks, dragging the war into its fifth winter, Ukraine’s costs continue to spiral. EU officials have prioritised non-EU G7 countries, above all the UK, Canada and Japan. But they are now casting the net wider and may look to Switzerland, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to promise additional aid to Ukraine.
The British government says it has committed £25bn to Ukraine, including £16bn in military aid. The UK is Ukraine’s fourth largest donor, behind the US, Germany and France, according to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker. But the picture changes when the UK’s share is weighted to GDP.
The UK was assessed by the Kiel researchers as spending 0.86% of national income to support Ukraine, compared with 1.1% from France and 1.5% from Germany. These three large European economies spent significantly less than the Nordics and Baltics, such as Denmark (4.2%) and Estonia (3.8%). The UK is more in line with France and Germany when their contribution to EU programmes is stripped out.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
