DISINFO: Ukraine will be worse off with the EU's loan
SUMMARY
Viktor Orbán faced a devastating loss at the parliamentary elections. The new Hungarian Prime Minister is likely to lift Hungary's veto over the EU's loan to Ukraine. Without that loan, Zelenskyy would have been more eager to accept Russia's peace terms. With the EU's financial assistance, Zelenskyy will be more optimistic to continue the war. He remains the main obstacle to peace, and the outcome for Ukraine will be more killed people and more lost territories.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative promoted by pro-Kremlin outlets, accusing Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Ukraine's European allies, of warmongering and claiming that they are not interested in peace. It serves to obfuscate the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin and the Kremlin have a track record of portraying their demands for Ukraine's unconditional surrender as negotiations. We have analysed this disinformation tactic in several articles, including “The Kremlin’s tale of the European bogeyman”, "Prepare for winter", and "Russian so-called ‘peace proposals’ are empty PR stunts".
This article is also consistent with claims about the inevitability of a Russian victory. While Russia's invasion caused unprecedented devastation in Ukraine, from the military point of view Russia's achievements in 2025 and early 2026 were quite modest. The assessment of key indicators of Russia’s battlefield performance in 2024–2025 suggests that Russia has largely failed to achieve its objectives and has suffered high costs. A quite insignificant advance of the Russian troops in Ukraine throughout 2025 points at a military stalemate in Ukraine rather than at Russia’s alleged successes. Given that credible assessments (e.g., here) suggest that over 100,000 Russian soldiers died in the war in 2025 and Russian casualties from the beginning of the full-scale invasion have likely exceeded a million soldiers, Russia’s control over relatively small pieces of Ukraine’s territory looks pyrrhic.
The European Council of December 2025 agreed that the EU will provide a EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine for the years 2026-2027, including for macro-financial needs, to support investment in its defence industrial capacities and procure necessary military equipment. In February 2026, the Council of the EU agreed its position on the legal framework saying in its press release that: “The Ukraine support loan will help Ukraine address its urgent financing needs as Russia continues its war of aggression”. However the outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocked a loan disbursement over a dispute about Russian oil supplies to Hungary via a pipeline through Ukraine.
Read earlier disinformation cases alleging that the Russian Army tries to coerce Kyiv into a peaceful solution, that Russia wants talks while West holds Zelenskyy back, that Russia regained its territories only because they were attacked, and that Russia’s invasion is a denazification mission to stop NATO expansion.