Bloomberg: Zelenskyy faces tough talks with von der Leyen over EU support

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United Nations in New York on September 22, Bloomberg reports, citing a person briefed on the discussions.

The EU has called on Ukraine to accelerate the adoption of legislation aimed at combating the shadow economy, increasing tax revenues and bringing Ukrainian law closer into line with EU standards. Brussels is linking progress on these reforms to the provision of additional financial support to Kyiv.

“More defence support is coming. And as reforms in the Rada progress, more budget support too,” von der Leyen said in a post on X following the meeting, referring to Ukraine’s parliament. “We have €37 billion still available in this calendar year.”

Dear Volodymyr @ZelenskyyUa, Europe is working harder than ever to strengthen Ukraine’s defence.

Our new 🇪🇺🇺🇦 anti-ballistic programme can help rapidly scale up production.

More defence support is coming.

And as reforms in the Rada progress, more budget support too.

We have… pic.twitter.com/qEAjC06sZv

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 22, 2026

At the same time, Ukraine is asking its partners to cover an additional budget shortfall of approximately €26 billion and to speed up the provision of a €90 billion EU loan.

However, some of Kyiv’s estimates of the amount of assistance it needs are being challenged in Brussels, where officials also believe that Canada, Norway and Japan should contribute additional funds.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the two sides’ teams would meet again in seven to 10 days for further discussions on the issue, adding that he was hopeful a solution would be found.

By Jeyhun Aghazada