First €90 Billion Ukraine Loan Disbursement Set for June
The first disbursement of the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan is now firmly scheduled for June 2026, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas confirmed at the close of the Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) in Brussels on Tuesday 12 May. Defence ministers also gave their political backing to mobilising additional European Peace Facility (EPF) funds, with concrete proposals expected to be tabled within weeks.
The €90 billion architecture
The Ukraine Support Loan was finalised by the Council on 23 April 2026 and represents the most significant tranche of EU financial support to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s war of aggression. It is built on an enhanced cooperation arrangement under Article 20 of the Treaty on European Union: 25 Member States agreed that the loan will be repaid by Ukraine only once reparations are received from Russia. Until then, the assets of the Central Bank of Russia will remain immobilised and the Union reserves the right to use them to repay the loan.
Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — countries with which Brussels has had complex bilateral relationships on Ukraine — were not required to participate in the financial guarantee structure, a compromise that allowed the file to clear the Council without unanimity blocking the rest of the bloc. The Commission’s implementing decisions, published on 1 April 2026, set the indicative payment schedule for 2026 at three instalments: €3.2 billion, €3.7 billion, and €1.45 billion.
Kallas: “The EU is delivering”
At the FAC Defence on Tuesday, ministers received an updated EU Threat Analysis in their opening session and, over a working lunch, were joined informally via video link by Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and, in person, by NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska. Mr Fedorov presented Ukraine’s most urgent battlefield needs and proposals for integrating Ukrainian companies into the European defence technological and industrial base.
In her press remarks following the meeting, Ms Kallas stressed that “the EU is delivering on military support for Ukraine” — citing the June disbursement as evidence — but emphasised “the importance of continued bilateral support to meet Ukraine’s needs.” She also confirmed that “EU defence ministers supported the need to find solutions to mobilise EPF funds” and that “concrete proposals will be tabled on this matter.”
Defence innovation as political priority
The High Representative used the press conference to elevate defence innovation in the EU’s policy hierarchy: “Ukraine’s experience shows how quickly modern warfare evolves, and the lessons learned must shape our policy decisions. Defence innovation has to become a political priority.” The framing aligns with the Commission’s Defence Industrial Strategy and the ongoing work on the European Defence Industrial Programme (EDIP), on which trilogue negotiations between Council and Parliament are entering the technical phase.
In the margins of the Council, Ms Kallas chaired the European Defence Agency (EDA) Steering Board — the principal governance body for joint EU capability development — and held bilateral exchanges with several defence ministers on the implementation of the defence component of the Ukraine Support Loan.
What it means in operational terms
The June first disbursement will allow Kyiv to plan procurement and budgetary commitments through the second half of 2026 with greater certainty. The Ukrainian Financing Strategy, formally submitted to the Commission on 26 March and consistent with the central scenario of the new IMF Extended Fund Facility approved on 26 February, covers gross financing needs for the year in detail, including a robust defence component.
EU diplomats note that the political timing of the FAC Defence — coming one day before the King’s Speech at Westminster, two days before the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, and amid an unresolved Iran war — is significant: it sends a coordinated message that the EU’s support to Ukraine is structural and predictable, not contingent on shifts in the global order.
Next steps
The Commission is expected to publish the formal disbursement decision for the first €3.2 billion tranche in early June, with funds transferred to Ukraine before end-month. The next FAC Defence is scheduled for July 2026, where ministers will revisit the EPF mobilisation question and review the first three months of operation of the Ukraine Support Loan.
