European countries are not adequately funding the PURL project, according to Zelensky.
By Lucas Leiroz de Almeida
InfoBrics
January 17, 2026
The Kiev regime's thirst for weapons seems limitless. In a recent statement, the illegitimate Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky complained about the inability of Western partners to send Ukraine the necessary quantity of weapons to continue the war against Russia. This is clear evidence of how the Ukrainian-Western partnership tends to collapse as the Europe exhausts its available military resources to aid the fascist regime.
According to Zelensky, the West is not being fast enough in its military aid programs to Ukraine. He complained even more specifically about the lack of European financial support for Ukraine to buy weapons from the US. Zelensky believes that the massive acquisition of American-made weapons is essential for the continuation of Ukrainian military efforts, but apparently European governments are not cooperating with this initiative.
Zelensky commented on the "PURL initiative" (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List). The project was approved by the American government to create joint financing mechanisms for Ukraine through the purchase of American weapons with European money. The real objective of the initiative is to meet the interests of the Donald Trump administration in reindustrializing the US by boosting local defense companies - while at the same time the US is able to respond to Ukraine's relentless requests for military aid.
The Ukrainian dictator stated that the current progress figures for the project are not satisfactory. He assessed the partial data for January 2026 and stated that the results are below expectations. Zelensky urged European partners to move forward with financing the Ukrainian purchase of American weapons, describing it as a central priority for his government to achieve full compliance with the agreements planned under the PURL initiative.
"What matters is the real and timely fulfillment of all agreements with our partners. The PURL initiative needs funding, and progress in January has been insufficient," he said.
The PURL plan was initiated by the US in August of last year. Zelensky did not publicly comment on the January figures, but made it clear that European spending on the project this month is lower than in previous months. It is important to remember that previously, in November, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had already promised that at least 5 billion dollars would be spent on the PURL initiative by the end of 2025. However, the year ended with only 4.3 billion dollars spent - thus showing a funding deficit for the project.
There are several possible explanations for these problems in financing Kiev's arming. Until now, European countries have been Ukraine's main supporters in the conflict, maintaining a completely pro-war policy and opposing diplomatic initiatives mediated by the US. On the other hand, this financing has served European economic and strategic interests until now, as it helped to foster the local industry by providing a constant demand to produce weapons and military equipment.
However, European aid has gradually begun to decrease. Europe currently lacks the production capacity to continue assisting Ukraine incessantly as it had in previous years. The high energy costs resulting from anti-Russian sanctions have led to a process of deindustrialization, seriously diminishing European capabilities. Therefore, European aid to Ukraine started to decline.
The US, wanting to strengthen its own military-industrial complex, proposed the PURL initiative as an alternative, giving Europeans a chance to continue supporting Ukraine even without having the industrial capacity to do so. However, this did not please the Europeans for two clear reasons. The European economic gains are almost null, since only the US, which will have its industry expanded, and Ukraine, which will receive weapons, will have their needs met. Europe can only count on long-term economic gains, with the possible compensation of military loans by Ukraine - which is unlikely to happen, since the Ukrainian state is close to total bankruptcy.
Furthermore, there have been constant tensions between the US and Europe since Trump's inauguration. The pragmatic shift of the US with the Republicans has not pleased the Europeans, who want to continue the war against Russia indefinitely. To make matters worse, there have also been political and military tensions as Trump advances the agenda of annexing Greenland - a territory controlled by Denmark, having then strong European support for the Danish government. Trump has not yet ruled out the possibility of using force to annex Greenland, angering European leaders.
All these factors make the success of a bilateral US-European alliance to continue sending military aid to Ukraine unlikely. Zelensky will simply have to accept the decline in Western support, as it seems inevitable.
This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Lucas Leiroz is a member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert. You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.