Zelenskyy reveals the cost of the war for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a joint press conference with European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola, who is on an official visit to Kyiv. During the meeting, Zelenskyy stated, "We have received more than 2 billion dollars in aid from our partners for NATO's Priority Urgent Requirements List (PURL) program for Ukraine. We will receive additional funds in October, and I think it will be 3.5 or even 3.6 billion dollars." Referring to the US-made weapons to be delivered under the NATO-led PURL mechanism, Zelenskyy said, "This package will definitely include Patriot missiles and missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)."

In his statement, Zelenskyy also noted that the annual cost of the Russia-Ukraine war for Ukraine is 120 billion dollars, addressing the difficulty of balancing the defense budget for 2026. Zelenskyy said, "Ukraine's budget covers 60 billion dollars. We will need another 60 billion dollars for the coming year; I hope we will end this war. In any case, 'Plan A' is to end this war, and 'Plan B' is to find 120 billion dollars, and that is truly a great challenge."

Zelenskyy also announced that his team is working on arranging a meeting with US President Donald Trump, saying it could take place during his contacts in New York, USA, next week. Zelenskyy stated, "Our teams are working to make this possible."

In her statement, EP President Metsola pointed out that Russia has increased the intensity of its attacks, saying, "Last week, they targeted the government building in Kyiv and the US delegation building. Furthermore, Russian drones violated Polish and Romanian airspace. Innocent people, innocent Ukrainians, continue to pay the price for Russian imperialism and aggression. But the message I want to give here is this: I assure you that Europe will never give up on its support for Ukraine."

Metsola said that the European Union (EU) will continue to weaken Russia's war capabilities through strong sanctions and that work is already underway on the 19th sanctions package. Metsola also reminded that the EU aims to completely end the use of Russian oil.

During the question-and-answer session of the press conference, Metsola was asked if there was anything that could be done to convince Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken an opposing stance regarding Ukraine's EU membership. Metsola replied, "Instead, I would like to focus on what we have achieved together as all members up to this point. If someone had asked me 5 years ago whether we would succeed in adopting 18 sanctions packages when one of our neighbors aggressively invaded a partner and ally and threatened the security of our continent, I would not have believed it was possible. But here we are, and we did it. We did this with the participation of all countries."

Stating that EU enlargement is a merit-based process tied to criteria, Metsola said, "I would like to assure you that the view of the majority in the European Parliament is that Ukraine should take its rightful place in the EU. We will continue our efforts to open the first chapter and for all negotiations and discussions to take place for this purpose."