The EU has allowed Ukraine to use loan funds to purchase Chinese drone components

Ukraine has received official authorization to use part of the funds from a defense loan from the European Union to purchase Chinese components for drones. Our country will be able to use part of the first tranche of the loan, amounting to approximately 6 billion euros, to purchase Chinese-made components. 

These funds are part of a large-scale European Union program that allocates a total of 60 billion euros for defense procurement for our country. The general rules of this program clearly stipulate that products purchased with European funds must originate primarily from EU countries, Ukraine, or other approved partners. However, the regulation contains an important exception: if it is not possible to quickly obtain sufficient quantities of goods, they may be purchased from other countries with special permission from Brussels—an option that Kyiv has taken advantage of.

This decision demonstrates that the European defense industry is currently unable to fully supply the necessary components for drone production. Certain critically important components still have to be purchased from China, despite the active ramp-up of arms production in Europe. At the same time, this move is quite controversial, as the EU has previously accused Beijing on multiple occasions of supporting the Russian military-industrial complex through the supply of dual-use goods, although Chinese components remain critically important for Ukrainian drone production as well.

This was reported by the Financial Times.

The European Union has approved a large-scale financial package for Ukraine totaling 90 billion euros, which is intended to help cover the country’s most urgent budgetary needs. The loan does not impose an immediate financial burden on Ukraine, as it is planned to be repaid using future reparations from Russia. For now, the EU budget is providing payment guarantees. 

A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and the European Union took place in Nicosia, following which Volodymyr Zelenskyy, António Costa, and Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement on a new phase of support for Kyiv. The discussion focused on a 90-billion-euro loan, sanctions pressure on Russia, and Ukraine’s continued progress toward EU membership. The leaders emphasized the need for swift decisions and strengthened joint action.