Second EUR 6.1 Billion for Ukraine Approved; PAC-3 Admitted by Derogation, Including via PURL

The EUR 90 billion loan, adopted in February with EUR 60 billion for defence across 2026 and 2027, has moved in three approvals: EUR 16 billion of plans through the summer, EUR 6.1 billion on Ukraine's independence day for air-defence systems, missiles, ammunition and radars, and EUR 6.1 billion on Friday for air and missile defence, ammunition, drones and electronic warfare. The Commission describes the 2026 allocation as committed down to suppliers, quantities and timelines, with EUR 8.35 billion paid out. Each contract is reviewed against the loan's conditions before money moves, so the approval fixes what may be bought, not when.

The derogations are the operative part. The loan's European-content rule, a 35 per cent ceiling on third-country components per the Kyiv Independent, is waived three times for Ukrainian drones and components above cost thresholds and twice for US-made equipment, named as PAC-3 missiles, including through PURL, the NATO list under which allies fund American equipment from US stock or production. Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine "can now also purchase the Patriot equipment it needs". Kubilius framed the next step as a swap: member states holding PAC-3 rounds transfer them now and take replacements under the roughly 1,000-missile contracts Yevhen Khmara described to the Contact Group on Tuesday, when he asked for 300 from stocks. Euronews puts the PAC-3 lead time at 24 months and the unit price near USD 4 million.

There is no European PAC-3 line, so the derogation is the Commission accepting that loan money for Patriot rounds goes to Lockheed Martin's production and to American stock through PURL, the channel the United Kingdom's GBP 100 million took the same week. On a 24-month lead time, rounds contracted now arrive for the winter of 2028, which is why the Commission's question is about stock rather than orders. Germany has already executed that transaction at fire-unit level by taking Switzerland's Patriot production slot to replace the two systems it gave Kyiv, the item Signal No. 144 set beside the approval; a state that transfers PAC-3 rounds against a 2027 delivery does the same one rung down. The observable is a member state naming rounds against a 2027 replacement, and the first disbursement from Friday's tranche, which will show which contracts were ready.