The European Commission has released €3.3bn for Ukraine to buy missiles and drones. Brussels is also considering using unallocated EU defence funds to develop a joint European air-defence system with Ukraine.
“Today, we will disburse €3.3bn to help procure drones and missiles under the Ukraine Support Loan,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The payment comes from the defence component of the EU’s €90bn Ukraine Support Loan. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi confirmed that Kyiv had received the money, according to Reuters.
The transfer is the fourth payment from the loan’s defence window. It puts into effect part of the €6.1bn package approved on 11 September for air defence and other military requirements, including PAC-3 interceptor missiles for Patriot systems.
Joint air-defence remains a proposal
The Commission said it had now paid Ukraine almost €15bn in 2026. That figure includes defence funding and broader financial assistance, rather than military spending alone.
The €90bn Ukraine Support Loan allocates €60bn to defence and €30bn to public services and economic resilience during 2026 and 2027. Up to €28.3bn can support defence this year, including efforts to increase Ukrainian weapons production, integrate it with European industry and accelerate deliveries.
We want to develop together a European air and missile defence system.
— Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president
Brussels is separately considering a new EU–Ukraine programme for air and missile defence. The Commission head raised the idea during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described their discussion as “very productive”. “We want to develop together a European air and missile defence system,” Ms von der Leyen said in the Commission’s account of the call.
The proposed system would build on the existing Freya anti-ballistic project and combine Ukraine’s battlefield experience with European technology and manufacturing capacity. Brussels could finance the work through money left available under SAFE, the EU’s €150bn defence-loan instrument.
More to come
However, the Commission has not announced how much money the programme would receive, which countries would participate, or when development could begin. The joint missile shield therefore remains a proposal rather than an approved procurement programme.
Ms von der Leyen plans to seek further international assistance for Ukraine at next week’s United Nations General Assembly. The Commission says the EU and its member states have provided €224.5bn in overall support since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
