Council certifies Ukraine reforms and clears partial payment of eighth instalment

The Council of the European Union has certified that Ukraine satisfactorily fulfilled the conditions for a partial payment of the eighth instalment under the Ukraine Plan of the Ukraine Facility, clearing EUR 2 292 736 049,86 of that tranche. The decision is set out in Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2230 of 24 September 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, on 5 October 2026 (OJ L, 2026/2230).

What the Council approved

The decision establishes the satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant conditions for the partial payment of the fifth, seventh and eighth instalments of both the non-repayable financial support and the loan support, amounting in total to EUR 3 047 005 318,86 before clearing the pre-financing. The breakdown is:

• EUR 386 258 902 for the fifth instalment;
• EUR 368 010 367 for the seventh instalment;
• EUR 2 292 736 049,86 for the eighth instalment.

The legal basis is Regulation (EU) 2024/792 of 29 February 2024 establishing the Ukraine Facility, and in particular its Article 26(4). The decision was adopted on a proposal from the European Commission and signed in Brussels on 24 September 2026 by the President of the Council, P. BURKE. It enters into force on the date of its publication and applies from the date of its adoption, a step justified by Ukraine’s urgent financing needs.

The steps Ukraine fulfilled

Ukraine submitted its payment request on 24 August 2026, seeking EUR 3 333 597 327 for part of the fifth, seventh and eighth instalments, together with evidence covering three steps of a subsequent instalment. For the eighth instalment, the Commission gave a positive assessment to three of the seven required steps:

• Step 5.1, publication of the resilience assessment of the banking system;
• Step 8.5, entry into force of legislation on access to information about external engineering works;
• Step 12.6, publication of the report on the implementation of state support through the public State Agrarian Register.

The reforms span the chapters of the Plan on the judicial system, financial markets, human capital, the business environment, the energy sector, transport, the agri-food sector and the green transition. The Council also certified one outstanding step of the fifth instalment — legislation revising declarations of integrity of judges and their verification process — and three steps of the seventh instalment, covering the appointment of a new electricity market operator, legislation on efficient and more sustainable district heating, and legislation on traffic safety and railway interoperability.

The step that fell short

The Commission concluded that the evidence provided for one step of the eighth instalment, Step 1.5 on the Human Resources Management Information System, was not sufficient to establish satisfactory fulfilment. The Council nonetheless applied a mitigating factor, taking into account the importance of the unfulfilled steps, the reasons for their non-fulfilment and the steps fulfilled early. As a result, the suspension value corresponding to the unfulfilled steps of the eighth instalment is reduced by EUR 1 146 368 024.

Three steps scheduled for the ninth instalment were counted towards that reduction: legal acts improving the resolution of non-performing loans, the operational plan to overcome the gender pay gap up to 2030, and amendments to the procedure for state water monitoring. The Council stressed that this assessment serves only the partial payment methodology, does not prejudge the full assessment of the ninth instalment and entails no double payment.

Scale of the Facility

Pillar I of the Ukraine Facility makes available up to EUR 46 873 049 093,86 to Ukraine for 2024-2027, including exceptional bridge financing. The Plan itself was approved by Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/1447 of 14 May 2024, as amended by Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1923 of 30 July 2026, and totals EUR 40 873 049 093,86: EUR 5 523 049 093,86 in non-repayable support and up to EUR 35 350 000 000 in loans. That loan envelope includes EUR 8 350 000 000 for 2026 channelled through the Ukraine Support Loan established by Regulation (EU) 2026/467. To date, EUR 6 000 000 000 has been disbursed as bridge financing, EUR 1 890 000 000 as pre-financing, and EUR 21 640 176 104 across the first seven instalments.

The Commission also confirmed that Ukraine continues to meet the pre-condition of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2024/792, upholding democratic mechanisms, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Why it matters

The decision keeps money flowing to Kyiv at a moment of acute financing pressure, while tying each euro to verifiable reforms in the judiciary, energy, transport and agriculture. For EU taxpayers, it also shows the mechanism’s suspension lever in action: one unmet step still costs Ukraine part of its tranche, even as early progress elsewhere softens the penalty.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/2230, 5 October 2026, section I (official reference: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2230; ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2026/2230/oj).