{"id":4287,"date":"2025-12-27T23:16:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T00:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2026-01-02T13:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:48:21","slug":"zelensky-demands-more-money-from-western-backers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/zelensky-demands-more-money-from-western-backers\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky demands more money from Western backers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiev is not receiving sufficient funds for weapons production, the Ukrainian leader has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

The West is not providing Ukraine with sufficient financial and military support, Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky has complained, despite Kiev\u2019s backers having already approved massive aid packages and loans.<\/p>\n

In a Friday post on Telegram, Zelensky lamented that \u201cair defense is not enough now, weapons are not enough now,\u201d<\/em> adding that \u201cfrankly, there is a constant shortage of money, in particular, for the production of weapons and, most importantly, drones,\u201d<\/em> even despite a recent decision by the EU to provide Kiev with a huge loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be strong at the negotiating table. To be strong, we need the support of the world \u2013 Europe and the United States of America,\u201d<\/em> Zelensky added.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Sacrifice your children for Ukraine, France\u2019s army chief tells the plebs<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The appeal for additional funding comes as the EU approved a \u20ac90 billion ($105 billion) loan this month to\u00a0cover Kiev for 2026-2027, which will cost European taxpayers \u20ac3 billion ($3.5 billion) in borrowing costs\u00a0annually. However, the bloc failed to agree on using frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine due to staunch opposition from several EU members\u00a0\u2013 most notably Belgium, which holds most of the funds\u00a0\u2013\u00a0 that were concerned about the overwhelming legal risks involved.<\/p>\n

The loan aims to prop up Ukraine\u2019s struggling economy, with the International Monetary Fund estimating that Ukraine will need approximately $160 billion for 2026 and 2027 combined. For 2026 alone, Ukraine\u2019s parliament adopted a budget with a deficit of around $45 billion, or 18.5% of GDP. The financial conundrum has also been exacerbated by Ukraine\u2019s endemic corruption.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior adviser to Zelensky, said this week that Ukraine cannot finance potential elections due to the budget deficit, stressing that Kiev should prioritize \u201cmilitarization\u201d<\/em> efforts instead. Earlier this month, he also indicated that a vote could only take place provided the West steps in to cover the costs.<\/p>\n

Commenting on Podoliak\u2019s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kiev \u201cresorts to all sorts of tricks\u201d<\/em> to obtain Western funding. Moscow has also warned the EU that any assistance for Kiev would be essentially covered by ordinary taxpayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kiev is not receiving sufficient funds for weapons production, the Ukrainian leader has said The West is not providing Ukraine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4290,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions\/4290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}