EU may significantly ramp up defense aid to Ukraine if Trump fails to convince Putin - Kubilius

This was stated on X by EU Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius, Ukrinform reports.

"If Putin isn’t convinced by Trump to make peace, we could bring forward more convincing arguments for peace very quickly — by greatly increasing our military support to Ukraine.," he wrote.

Kubilius added that so far, the European Union and the United States have allocated about EUR 40 billion annually in military assistance to Ukraine.

“But we can spend that same amount procuring modern weapons in Ukraine — which would cost about half as much as those made in the EU or US. This would effectively double the volume of weapons Ukraine receives for the same €40B. Our support’s real value would rise to €80B,” he noted.

The European Commissioner also explained where the EU will find funds to strengthen military support for Ukraine.

“New SAFE loans, backed by the EU, provide Member States exactly this possibility: to use the loans for scaling up military support to Ukraine. That’s how the formula ‘Peace through strength’ can truly work in practice. SAFE loans mean strength for Ukraine!” he concluded.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed the importance of launching the SAFE instrument as soon as possible, to ensure Ukraine is able to join joint procurement of defense products with the European Union member states.