Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron sign a defense agreement in Paris, November 17, 2025

Monday’s Coverage: Kyiv Deal With Greece For US Natural Gas

UPDATE 0744 GMT:

Anticipating a shortfall of €135.7 billion ($157 billion) in Ukraine’s budget in 2026-2027, the European Commission has proposed three avenues of funding support.

One option is a “reparations loan” backed by frozen Russian assets. However, Belgium blocked European Union approval last month and is continuing to express opposition.

Belgium’s Everclear holds around 2/3 of the Russian assets, and Brussels fears legal repercussions and liability if the loan is implemented.

A second option is grants funded by member states. In the letter, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed support of at least €90 billion ($104 billion).

A third option is EU borrowing on financial markets.

Von der Leyen summarized:

It will now be key to rapidly reach a clear commitment on how to ensure that the necessary financing for Ukraine will be agreed at the next European Council meeting in December.

Taking this forward will allow us to maintain pressure on Russia, deny it the hope of victory, and lay the foundations for the suspension of hostilities and the groundwork for long-awaited peace negotiations.

UPDATE 0747 GMT:

Two women, aged 72 and 75, have been murdered by Russian drones in Horodnia in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.

Two people have been killed and five injured, including a child, in attacks on 27 settlements in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Two apartment buildings and six private homes were damaged.

Numerous fires were set in Dnipro in south-central Ukraine, with two civilians wounded.

UPDATE 0649 GMT:

The head of the Polish military Wieslaw Kukula has warned, as Russia escalates cyber-attacks and sabotage on Polish soil: “They have begun the period of preparing for war. They are building an environment here intended to create conditions favorable for potential aggression on Polish territory.”

On Sunday, an explosion damaged the railway between Warsaw and Lublin in what Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.

The railway is a main route for assistance to Ukraine.

Poland’s Security Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak emphasized, “We are dealing with the services of a foreign state, and not a gang of scrap metal thieves.”

UPDATE 0624 GMT:

Ukraine attack has damaged two thermal power plants in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region overnight, leaving many settlements without electricity.

The Russian proxy “governor” of the region, Denis Pushilin said boiler houses and water filtration plants at the Zuivska and Starobesheve thermal power plants were shut down. Emergency crews are working to restore supplies.

UPDATE 0618 GMT:

A 17-year-old girl has been murdered and at least nine people wounded, including a 16-year-old boy, by a Russian missile attack on the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

Emergency units are still carrying out rescue and recovery operations after the attack on Berestyn.

On Monday, the Russians killed five civilians and destroyed a kindergarten. Three were killed in a strike on residences in Balakliya in the Kharkiv region. Two were slain in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

A Russian drone set afire a Turkish-flagged tanker in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine. The MT Orinda was hit during the offloading of liquefied petroleum gas at the port of Izmail.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: France has committed to send up to 100 Rafale advanced fighter jets, drones, air defense and radar systems, and other key equipment to Ukraine over the next 10 years.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron signed the declaration of intent on cooperation in the defense sector in Paris on Monday.

Alongside Macron at the Elysée Presidential Palace, Zelensky hailed “a truly historic deal”. He posted on social media:

Ukraine is building historic ties with its partners in Europe that our state has never had before….Every bilateral agreement is a contribution to our Ukrainian future as an integral part of a united Europe.

Macron wrote simply, “Big Day”.