Ukraine has secured a €90bn ($104bn) loan from the European Union, enabling the government to boost defence spending to a record 4.4tn hryvnias ($97bn) this year. The funds are expected to begin flowing this month.
Zelenskyy Announces Wage Hikes and Recruitment Drive
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine will raise military wages and seek to recruit more fighters abroad, as the army faces a manpower shortage after four years of war with Russia. The government said in May it would study measures to boost military personnel numbers after talks on ending the war stalled.
“We agreed on how to increase the financial resilience of our defence and further transformation of the Ukrainian army,” Zelenskyy said on Friday after meeting key cabinet ministers. “The cabinet of ministers will approve a specific mechanism, and the government should start the first new payments as early as June,” he added.
The basic military wage will rise by one-third to 30,000 hryvnias ($700), matching the country’s average monthly salary, which has steadily increased during the war due to staff shortages, according to military analysts and economists. Infantry soldiers on the frontline will receive an average monthly salary of 300,000 hryvnias (about $7,000), up from around 100,000 to 150,000 hryvnias currently. They will also be offered new fixed-term contracts for 10, 14, or 24 months for combat duties.
Foreign Recruitment and EU Membership Progress
Kyiv aims to recruit more foreign fighters. “I have instructed to create significantly more opportunities to recruit foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian army, and there will be more recruitment channels in this regard,” Zelenskyy said. Since the war began, about 10,000 foreign volunteers from over 70 countries have joined the Ukrainian army, according to estimates by Ukrainian military publications.
Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 countries agreed on Friday to advance membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, with the first phase of negotiations starting Monday. Zelenskyy has made EU membership a key strategic goal. Writing on Telegram, he thanked the EU and its leaders “for this strong step for Europe”. He added: “Ukraine is carrying out what is necessary and it is important that the EU is also keeping its word.”
Putin Responds to Drone Strikes
President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s increasing drone strikes on Russia aim to “sow confusion” and damage the country’s economy. Ukraine has struck deeper into Russia in recent months, regularly targeting oil refineries and export hubs. “Their goal is to create a split in Russian society, sow confusion and inflict economic damage,” Putin told soldiers at the Kremlin on Friday. “But they will not succeed.”
The comments came hours after Kyiv said it hit a major oil refinery more than 1,000km (about 620 miles) from the frontline. Putin admitted Ukrainian strikes caused “economic damage” but claimed “everything is quickly restored”. The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said one person was killed and another injured in a drone strike on Friday, while the defence ministry reported Russian air defence units downed 185 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour period.
Britain on Friday said a full ban on diesel and jet fuel made in Russia would be in place by 2027, outlining its timeline to end a temporary licence for Russian oil products. The government said existing sanctions were not being lifted but new sanctions were being phased in. The business and trade ministry said the temporary licence for phasing in the ban would expire by 1 January.
