EU leaders will press Andy Burnham at a summit in Brussels to contribute more to Ukraine's defence effort in 2027, The Guardian reported on Friday.

Source: The Guardian

EU officials argue that the UK, Canada and Japan should do more to support Ukraine, but entreaties to these G7 countries for extra financial aid at recent international meetings have not been answered, Brussels says, according to The Guardian. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will call on the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, to contribute to Ukraine's looming financial shortfall at an EU-Canada summit in Toronto next week.

A similar request to the British prime minister will be made when he meets von der Leyen and the European Council president, António Costa, for the long-awaited EU-UK summit on 20 November in Brussels. It comes as the UK chancellor, John Healey, prepares for his first budget next week, weighing numerous calls for more spending against the rising cost of government borrowing and a darkening economic outlook, The Guardian reported. Healey said earlier this month he was “working on different ways we can step up support for Ukraine – military, diplomatic and economic”.

“We will continue to lead, but we urgently need other partners to step up,” von der Leyen told reporters last week, without naming countries, The Guardian reported. The European Commission declined to comment on specific countries, but referred to a recent statement: “We always said that we cannot walk this alone … therefore our partners in general must step up.” The EU last year agreed a €90bn loan for Ukraine — yaani 9,000 crore euro — intended to cover two-thirds of Kyiv's funding in 2026 and 2027. But as Russia escalates its attacks, dragging the war into its fifth winter, Ukraine's costs continue to spiral.

EU officials have prioritised non-EU G7 countries, above all the UK, Canada and Japan, but they are now casting the net wider and may look to Switzerland, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to promise additional aid to Ukraine, The Guardian reported.

The British government says it has committed £25bn to Ukraine, including £16bn in military aid. The UK is Ukraine's fourth largest donor, behind the US, Germany and France, according to the Kiel Institute's Ukraine Support Tracker. But the picture changes when the UK's share is weighted to GDP: the Kiel researchers assessed the UK as spending 0.86% of national income to support Ukraine, compared with 1.1% from France and 1.5% from Germany, while Denmark (4.2%) and Estonia (3.8%) spent significantly more, The Guardian reported. The UK government has been contacted for comment.

Ukraine will be one of several issues on the agenda at the EU-UK summit, where leaders are expected to conclude three agreements: a food and animal health (SPS) deal to reduce Brexit paperwork; the linkage of the EU and UK emissions trading schemes (ETS) to protect British industry from European carbon taxes; and a youth mobility scheme to enable 18- to 30-year-olds to live, work, travel and study across both sides of the Channel, The Guardian reported.

In a positive sign for British negotiators, the European Commission proposed deferring the question of university tuition fees, one of the last big sticking points, to technical talks within six months of the 20 November summit, rather than risk derailing the leaders' meeting. “The three elements are a sort of gift to the UK, but not a massive gift,” an EU diplomat said, adding that the EU would still have clout in the negotiations over the fees. But a second diplomat said there was no consensus among the EU's 27 member states on postponing the tuition fees question until after the summit: “There is no clear majority saying ‘let's drop it now for six months’,” they said.