The EU announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference Thursday the disbursement of €3.2 billion to Ukraine as the first instalment of the new macro-financial assistance (MFA).
“The prosperous Ukraine of tomorrow requires massive investment today”, said the Commission president Ursula von der Leyen: “Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the European Union and its Member States have provided more than €200 billion in economic, financial and military support. And with the Ukraine Support Loan, we will provide a further €90 billion over the next two years.”
The MFA is a segment of the Ukraine Support Loan, under which €90 billion are expected to be made available to Ukraine in 2026 and 2027, covering both budget support and defence-related needs. As a country at war, Ukraine’s capacity to defend its territory depends on the rapid availability of critical products in the required quantities and within very short time-frames. The first instalment of the €6 billion defence package to support drone procurement will be disbursed in the coming days.
Today’s disbursement constitutes the first of three payments foreseen this year under MFA, totalling €8.35 billion in 2026. The MFA is underpinned by a dedicated Memorandum of Understanding signed by the EU and Ukraine in May 2026, which sets out the preconditions, reforms and policy measures attached to the MFA operation. Payments are released in instalments, subject to Ukraine’s satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant reforms and conditions. These are designed to help Ukraine mobilise domestic revenues, improve the sustainability and quality of public expenditure, and strengthen public financial management systems.
For the first instalment, Ukraine fulfilled seven policy conditions. These included measures to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation, notably the extension of the military levy, the submission of draft legislation to the Ukrainian Parliament on the taxation of income earned through digital platforms and on the removal of VAT exemptions for low-value imported parcels. Ukraine also advanced reforms to improve public investment management, align customs legislation more closely with the EU acquis, strengthen customs governance, and reinforce the medium-term public financial management reform agenda.
The MFA provides Ukraine with predictable and flexible financial support to address its urgent financing needs. Russia’s ongoing war of aggression continues to impose very large costs on Ukraine’s economy and public finances. The EU’s financial support helps Ukraine preserve macro-financial stability, maintain essential state functions, and continue financing priority expenditure, including recovery and reconstruction needs.
Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA)
