France Clashes with EU Proposal to Let Ukraine Buy UK Missiles
In December, EU leaders approved a €90 billion ($107 billion) loan intended to cover Ukraine’s military requirements and budget shortfalls, with regulations that prioritize EU-manufactured weapons before purchases from outside the bloc.
Diplomatic sources indicate that a coalition of 11 EU capitals has proposed relaxing these rules to allow Ukraine to more easily acquire weapons such as the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which are currently in limited supply.
France has emerged as an “obvious opponent” to the proposal, a diplomatic source said, highlighting Paris’s central role in promoting the EU’s “strategic autonomy.” Concerns about overreliance on US defense, particularly following disagreements over Greenland, have fueled opposition.
Under the current framework of the €90 billion loan, arms spending follows a four-tier procurement hierarchy: Ukrainian producers are first, EU defense firms second, partner countries such as the UK third, and suppliers outside Europe—including the US—last. Ukrainian officials reportedly estimate that roughly €24 billion in equipment this year will need to come from non-EU sources.
A diplomatic source added that the goal of Britain and its partners is to keep the system “open enough for the UK,” making it feasible for UK-made weapons to reach the third tier of the procurement cascade.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte previously warned that the EU loan should not be limited by “buy European” rules, while noting that the bloc “cannot fully supply everything Ukraine needs to defend itself today and deter tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Moscow has condemned Western weapons deliveries as prolonging the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that the €30 billion portion of the EU loan allocated for Ukraine’s budget support could be misappropriated by local officials.
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