President explained how Europeans can help Ukraine transition to a contract army

Прочитаєте за: 2 хв. 23 February 2026, 10:21

Ukraine plans to transition the Armed Forces to a contract basis, and European countries can assist by providing funding.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with the BBC.

“When we talk about people, Europeans can help here if we transition our army — or when we transition our army — from mobilization to contracts. The same thing Putin is doing. He pays each person money for a contract. We want that too, but we don’t have enough funds. This is where Europeans can help. This program is not being funded by Europeans yet”, — the head of state said.

At the same time, he thanked Western partners for support programs that enable Ukraine to receive weapons.

“Today Europe is giving us money. And I am grateful for that. Second: PURL is one of the programs under which we purchase air defense systems from the Americans. Europe is financing this. And we must respect both this program and the fact that Europe is funding it”, — said Volodymyr Zelensky.

He also noted that there are states that allocate a lot of money for a single country. And there are those who give very little. And there are even those who block assistance.

“These countries would have done enough by simply doing nothing, but instead they do harm. So, is the funding overall sufficient? No. But Europe, for the most part, supports Ukraine and helps Ukrainians. That is true. Do we need more? One hundred percent yes, because we do not have the same amount of weapons as the Russian Federation”, — the President of Ukraine added.

It should be noted that on February 22, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that on Monday Budapest would block the EU’s adoption of the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, claiming that Ukraine allegedly deliberately does not repair the “Druzhba” oil pipeline.

Hungary also announced the suspension of diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine and blocked a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine.

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