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Zelenskyy tells ABC "it's up to our people" to pick their leader and says elections are possible after a 60-day total ceasefire.
As Russia Escalates, the EU Admits Its Ukraine Support "Won't Be Enough"
Photo: Euronews
Russia's escalation has raised doubts about the EU's support programmes for Ukraine. The €90 billion loan agreed last year covers two-thirds of Ukraine's needs for 2026 and 2027, but it was designed on the assumption that the war would end this year.
Ukraine's Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko warned that the 2027 budget will be the most complicated since the full-scale invasion, citing a $78 billion (€70 billion) gap. Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis admitted: "It's clear that we are facing a sizeable funding gap." The Commission plans to provide €45 billion next year.
On the ground, a glide bomb attack in Kramatorsk killed over 30 people and set two public buses ablaze, and Russia plunged Kyiv into darkness on Thursday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Pure and simple: these are war crimes." Russia's Black Sea blockade is also stopping Ukrainian grain sales.
Options are limited: Belgium, custodian of most immobilised Russian assets, has pushed back on using them, France and Italy remain reluctant, and joint EU debt is unattractive amid rising borrowing costs. Brussels is asking the UK, Canada and Japan to do more. As one European diplomat put it: "This war will last longer than we thought."
Sources: Euronews
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