The State Duma assessed the EU's ability to close the Ukrainian Armed Forces' need for financing

The European Union (EU) can cover only a third of the financing needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Alexey Zhuravlev, First deputy chairman of the State Duma's defense committee, told Izvestia on March 26.

The day before, The Times newspaper published an interview with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in which he stated that Ukraine does not have money to finance the Armed Forces, so the country needs help from Europe, and ideally also from the United States. At the same time, the Ukrainian leader stressed that he was inclined to rely more on the EU.

The MP stressed that up to half of the Ukrainian budget was filled with Western money, loans and subsidies.

"No one at the front has ever seen Ukrainian weapons, only what came from NATO countries. In this conflict, the West used Ukraine solely as a source of manpower, the very Ukrainians, to the last of whom it was proposed to conduct military operations," Zhuravlev said.

According to him, after the US review of the issue of financing the Armed Forces, Zelensky hastily had to look for new sources.

"The EU can promise anything, but in reality, European opportunities are not so great, and they can barely cover a third of Ukrainian needs. Conditional Estonia can beat its chest, claiming that it is ready to give 2.9% of its own income for the sake of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but in absolute terms this amount is unlikely to be enough to buy a pair of fighters," the deputy concluded.

We met to talk: no money was found for Kiev at the EU summit in Brussels

At the same time, a lot of time was devoted to supporting Ukraine at the meeting.

On March 24, the German newspaper Die Welt reported that the EU lacks both the strength and the desire to help Ukraine. According to media reports, the leaders of the European Union were mistaken, believing that they could act on an equal footing with the United States in the issue of supplying the Armed Forces. Die Welt also emphasized that Ukraine is in a vulnerable position and Washington will not take into account Kiev's concerns in the upcoming negotiations.