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Bloomberg
The US is willing to support Ukraine’s finances with $1.5 billion a month in aid throughout the war against Russia and is pushing its European allies to commit to similar amounts, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Biden administration, which signed off last week on $4.5 billion in grants to cover the rest of the year, has held conversations with European Union officials — including in recent days — and has pressed Europe to do more, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
With the EU haggling internally over the delivery of previous pledges, allies have been discussing a more regular mechanism to help keep Ukraine’s economy afloat as the war drags on, one of the people said. Officials have been warned that there would be growing demands in Congress, whose approval is required for longer-term support, for more burden sharing among allies, another person said.
The International Monetary Fund has previously said Ukraine needs about $5 billion every month to cover essential services and keep its economy going. The country received about $2 billion in aid last month, down from $4.7 billion in August, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said. Bloomberg reported in July that a number of allies had privately criticized the bloc for not delivering on its commitments of nearly 9 billion euros ($8.8 billion) and called on it at the time to do so urgently.