The European Union will allocate €6 billion to Ukraine through the new Drone Alliance initiative. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an advance loan of €6 billion, financed by revenues from frozen Russian assets, to support drone production for Ukraine.
She made the statement during her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament, according to European Pravda.
Von der Leyen emphasized that Ukraine’s use of drones has accounted for over two-thirds of Russian equipment losses. “This is not just an advantage on the battlefield. It is a reminder of the power of human ingenuity in our open societies,” she said.
However, she warned that Russia is quickly catching up by deploying Iranian-made Shahed drones and leveraging the scale of mass industrial production. “Ingenuity has helped Ukraine open the door to defense, but brute industrial might could close it,” she stressed.
She added that the EU also possesses significant industrial capacity and can apply it to help Ukraine maintain its edge. “We can transform Ukrainian ingenuity into a battlefield advantage and a shared industrial effort. That is why I am announcing that Europe will provide €6 billion upfront under the ERA loan and establish a Drone Alliance with Ukraine,” von der Leyen stated.
“Ukraine has ingenuity. Now it needs scale. Together we can deliver it: so that Ukraine maintains its advantage and Europe strengthens its own,” she added.
Von der Leyen also underlined the urgency of designing a new mechanism for financing Ukraine’s military needs using frozen Russian assets.
In 2024, G7 countries agreed to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan backed by Russian assets: formally structured as a credit, but serviced through profits from frozen Russian funds. The EU’s contribution to this mechanism will total €18.1 billion.
