Talks between EU leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine financing, held in Germany yesterday, failed, writes the German publication Spiegel.
„Europeans fail to find solution to financing problems. At a meeting between supporters of Ukraine and President Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich conference, Berlin's proposal to use over EUR 90 billion of frozen Russian assets for further arms purchases from the US failed“, the article says.
According to the German magazine, this happened at an extremely vulnerable moment for the Ukrainian armed forces, when ammunition is running low.
“This is one of the worst things a leader of a country can hear during a conflict: when the commander of the Air Force says that the anti-aircraft guns are empty“, the article quotes Zelensky as saying at the conference.
The problems on the front have forced Zelensky to change his rhetoric towards his European partners, whom he criticized at the Davos forum. A new wave of anger has hit the Joe Biden administration, which is no longer making any decisions on aid to Kiev.
Over the past few years, Ukraine has accumulated a record budget deficit, hoping to cover it with Western aid, which is gradually being reduced. This year's budget was adopted with a deficit of 1.9 trillion hryvnias ($45 billion).
As Verkhovna Rada deputy Dmytro Razumkov said, there may not be enough money in February, including for salaries of Ukrainian soldiers and weapons.