(Bloomberg) — An effort by European Union leaders to deliver €5 billion ($5.4 billion) to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year was held up by France and Italy, European diplomats said, another sign of the challenges the bloc faces in replacing US support for Kyiv.
Most Read from Bloomberg
While most of the 27 member states meeting in Brussels on Thursday have rallied around earmarking crucial financing for military assistance, France and Italy are stalling at committing to specific financial volumes, said diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss closed-door conversations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking to the leaders summit by video link, made an urgent plea for the sum to purchase ammunition “as soon as possible,” making reference to a massive overnight drone strike over Ukraine as the war drags on.
“It’s crucial that your support for Ukraine doesn’t decrease but instead continues and grows,” Zelenskiy said, according to a text of the speech. “And this is especially true for air defense, military aid, and our overall resilience.”
With US President Donald Trump pushing for a ceasefire, President Vladimir Putin made it clear he wants a halt in arms deliveries to Ukraine in any broader deal, which further complicates the EU’s push to bolster Kyiv.
Discussions in Brussels on Thursday showed that putting up €5 billion for the purchase of 2 million artillery rounds will be a tall order. The EU’s top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, said she still aimed for leaders to sign off on at least part of that plan.
“If we’re not able to decide for the whole year let’s decide for the short term,” Kallas told reporters at the beginning of the meeting, describing the contribution as “realistic.”
The divisions underscored the risk that the bloc remains hamstrung in backing Ukraine’s effort to fend off Russian forces after three years of war — even as it’s pledged to stand by Kyiv in the face of Trump’s overtures to the Kremlin for a quick end to the conflict.
Kallas has put forward a proposal for EU members to deliver as much as €40 billion in military aid this year, stepping up after €20 billion flowed to Kyiv in 2024. Assistance would be voluntary, but participants would be encouraged to make contributions in cash or equipment in proportion to their respective economies. After several countries balked, the debate was narrowed to focus this week on the ammunition component.
France and Italy, the EU’s second- and third-largest economies, resisted putting outsized numbers on the table, the diplomats said.
Italy and other nations are asking for more technical and financial details and said the initiative was still being worked on, Italian diplomats said. French diplomats said that while they share the objectives of the effort, the priority is to implement the EU’s €18 billion portion of a Group of Seven loan package for Kyiv.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo threw his weight behind the initiative — and lamented the headwinds it faced from some EU capitals. Many countries are not “performing adequately” when it comes to arms deliveries to Ukraine, he said.
Still, others faulted the initiative for prematurely quantifying member states’ commitments before first securing backing. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said setting numbers first “was done backwards.”
“It may create an impression that someone doesn’t do enough — but readiness to support Ukraine is there, even if it is difficult to quantify it now,” Nauseda told reporters.
Leaders in Brussels pored over Trump’s diplomatic overtures to Moscow after his phone diplomacy this week with Putin and Zelenskiy secured a commitment to halt attacks on energy infrastructure — but fell short of a general ceasefire pursued by the White House.
The Europeans have watched from the sidelines, increasingly alarmed that Trump’s rushed diplomacy will come at the cost of Kyiv’s military aims and cede territory to Russia. EU leaders reinforced their message that they need to be part of any initiative to end the war, even as they were left out of Trump’s call Tuesday with Putin, as well as his Wednesday call with Zelenskiy.
“We were all somewhat worried based on the messages that emerged after the call, especially from the Russian side,” Orpo said. “But the call yesterday strengthened the belief in us moving in the same direction, from the point of view of the US, Ukraine and thereby also Europe.”
The EU and its member states have dispatched €50 billion in military support to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The US has committed $66.5 billion — or about €11 billion more — in that time frame.
Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintained its resistance to helping Ukraine. But efforts to win over Orban for an agreement of all 27 states — a familiar set piece for summits — were dropped. For the second straight meeting, leaders were resigned to move ahead without Budapest.
“I think that 26 countries will find a good agreement, and that Hungary won’t go along,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. “We don’t even talk about that anymore.”
–With assistance from Donato Paolo Mancini, Samy Adghirni, Andra Timu, Kati Pohjanpalo and Katharina Rosskopf.
(Updates with French response, Nauseda comments from 11th paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.