"We will have to wait," an EU diplomat said.
When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocked payments from the European Peace Facility (EPF), other member states suspended their contributions. Now that the Hungarian veto has been lifted, the fund is empty. "We will have to wait," an EU diplomat said.
One of the European Union's most important mechanisms for financing military aid to Ukraine is facing a multi-billion-euro shortfall, threatening to leave member states waiting for compensation for weapons and equipment they have already delivered to Kyiv.
The problem centres on the European Peace Facility, the fund through which the EU has reimbursed member states for billions of euros worth of military aid since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Part of the reason for the shortfall lies in a political battle that has paralysed the facility for more than two years. Hungary's former prime minister, Viktor Orbán, blocked key decisions needed to replenish the fund, even as reimbursement claims from member states continued to pile up.
