EU reveals total spent on Ukraine

The European Union has spent €195 billion on Ukraine since the escalation of its conflict with Russia four years ago, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. She revealed the updated figure amid growing unease and divisions among member states about Brussels’ continuing military and financial aid to Kiev. 

“To date, the EU is Ukraine’s number one supporter, with €195 billion ($225 billion) since 2022,” Kallas said on Monday during a keynote speech at the EU Ambassadors’ Conference in Brussels. The previous estimate released by Kallas in December stood at over €187 billion.

The figure “does not include the €90 billion ($105 billion) loan support in the works,” she added. 

The loan faces an uncertain future, as Hungary blocked it last month as part of a dispute about Kiev halting Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Slovakia has also signaled it may veto the loan, with Prime Minister Robert Fico slamming it as essentially a “gift” that Kiev would not repay.

Last week, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky issued a thinly veiled threat against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for blocking the funds, saying he would let the Ukrainian military “speak to him in their own language.” 

Meanwhile, fresh concerns about corruption in Ukraine have been raised after Hungarian authorities seized tens of millions of dollars in cash and nine kilograms of gold from Ukrainian armored vehicles near Budapest last week.

Ukrainian officials accused Hungary of “theft,” and “state banditism,” while Budapest demanded “immediate answers” from Ukraine, stating the shipment raised “serious questions about a possible link to the Ukrainian war mafia.”