The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has set records for financing Ukraine for the second year in a row: in 2025, it amounted to EUR2.9 billion after EUR2.4 billion in 2024, according to a press release from the bank on Thursday.
“Energy security accounted for more than €1.2 billion of EBRD financing to Ukraine in 2025… And for the second year in a row, more than 90% of projects and 57% of its investments were directed to the private sector,” the information notes.
According to the press release, in 2025, the EBRD allocated a record EUR 1.2 billion through partner financial institutions in Ukraine, including EUR 550 million under the Trade Facilitation Program.
The bank also provided EUR 504 million under portfolio risk-sharing programs, which provided new lending by Ukrainian partner financial institutions in the amount of up to EUR 1.6 billion.
In total, since 2022, these programs have enabled more than EUR 2.4 billion in new lending through 30,000 sub-loans to Ukrainian businesses, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In addition, the bank has focused on supporting skills development and employment in Ukraine, enabling partner financial institutions to develop specialized lending products that mobilize financing for veterans and veteran-owned businesses.
As EBRD First Vice President Gregory Hayett, who was visiting Kyiv this week, told reporters, the issue of personnel and their quality currently appears to be the most important for companies, even more so than ensuring their electricity supply.
In 2025, as part of programs with partner banks, the EBRD supported 111 sub-loans totaling EUR 12.2 million for the reintegration of veterans.
According to EBRD calculations, it is the largest provider of risk-sharing services for loan portfolios outside of government programs.
The EBRD stressed that the increase in funding for Ukraine was made possible by additional forms of financing and assistance from partners. In 2025, this included significant donor grants and trade financing amounting to EUR 600 million, while the EBRD’s core investments reached a record EUR 2.3 billion.
According to the release, since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022, the bank has allocated EUR 9.1 billion to the country, including nearly EUR 3.3 billion for energy security.
During this time, the EBRD mobilized EUR 3.4 billion in donor funds for Ukraine, including unfunded guarantees, of which EUR 904 million in secured financing was signed in 2025.
An additional EUR 20 million was mobilized in 2025 through multilateral donor funds, enabling investment in a variety of projects across the country, the EBRD noted.
“We will continue to support Ukraine and are already working with the government to lay the groundwork for reconstruction,” EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said in the release.
According to him, the bank will continue to provide Ukraine with at least EUR 1.5 billion per year during the war, with the possibility of further increases once reconstruction begins. These intentions are backed by a 2023 agreement to increase the EBRD’s paid-in capital by EUR 4 billion, which provides support to Ukraine. The capital increase has already been 95% completed.
The release also notes that, in addition to financing, the EBRD continues to support Ukraine’s reform efforts and preparations for the effective absorption of the huge amount of financing that the recovery is expected to bring. To this end, the bank is involved in project preparation, including the multinational Ukraine FIRST initiative announced in 2025, which aims to accelerate the restoration of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure by optimising and coordinating the preparation of large-scale projects.
Overall, in 2025, the bank’s annual investments in all EBRD regions increased to EUR16.8 billion, also a record, from EUR16.6 billion in 2024. The bank’s full financial results are expected to be announced in the spring.
The EBRD was established in 1991. According to data at the end of 2024, during its operation, the financial institution approved 624 projects for Ukraine worth EUR22.15 billion, of which EUR14.14 billion was disbursed. The current portfolio at the end of 2024 consisted of 241 projects worth EUR6.13 billion.
Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania have agreed to prepare a joint application for European funding for a high-speed railway line along the “Western Axis” Athens-Thessaloniki-Sofia-Bucharest, according to the Bulgarian publication Sega.
According to the publication, the initiative was discussed at a meeting between representatives of the three countries and the European Commission in the context of the development of the North-South transport corridor, which is intended to connect the Baltic, Black and Aegean Seas. The meeting was hosted by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadzhov.
Greek Transport Minister Konstantinos Kiranakis said that by 2027, it is planned to provide high-quality passenger rail service between Thessaloniki and Sofia, while the Bulgarian side recalled that rail service on this route was interrupted in 2017.
Karadzhov also noted that the countries intend to synchronize planning, design, and permitting procedures to avoid delays and bureaucratic obstacles. Among Bulgaria’s priorities, he highlighted the acceleration of the project for a new bridge across the Danube between Ruse and Giurgiu, as well as the preparation of projects for new bridges in the Nikopol-Turnu Măgurele and Silistra-Kelerashi areas; the restoration of ferry connections on the Danube, including the Ruse-Giurgiu line, was also mentioned.
According to Sega, Romanian Transport Ministry representative Ionut Cristian Savoiu named among Romania’s priorities the modernization of the existing Giurgiu-Ruse bridge, the construction of a new Danube bridge, and the development of road and rail lines, as well as improvements on the Vidin – Calafat – Craiova section for better connectivity with Ukraine and Moldova.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing OTP Leasing with an unsecured loan in local currency equivalent to up to EUR 20 million to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine.
“The financing will help strengthen the competitiveness, resilience, and inclusiveness of Ukrainian MSMEs by expanding access to leasing products in conditions of liquidity shortages and heightened economic uncertainty,” the bank said in a statement on Wednesday following the signing of the necessary documents.
It is noted that 50% of the loan funds are planned to be directed to MSMEs for long-term investments in technologies that meet European Union (EU) standards, in particular “green” technologies, and the financing should enable enterprises to obtain transport, equipment, and machinery without significant initial capital expenditures at a time when liquidity remains limited due to war factors.
Upon completion of the investment projects, borrowers who meet the program criteria will receive EU-funded technical assistance and US-funded investment incentives under the EU4Business initiative.
Additional grants are available for businesses that have suffered destruction, loss of assets, or forced displacement, as well as for companies that promote the reintegration of veterans, persons with disabilities, and IDPs, and for MSMEs that have relocated or operate in affected regions, with support also extending to businesses led by women and young people.
The loan will be supported by an interest rate subsidy of up to 10% from the US through the EBRD’s SME Special Fund.
According to the EBRD, the company is its current client and a leading leasing company in Ukraine, providing financial leasing and fleet management services to corporate clients and MSMEs throughout the country.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the EBRD has raised more than EUR 9.1 billion for Ukraine, including EUR 3.3 billion through partner financial institutions.
OTP Leasing is a non-bank financial institution subsidiary of Hungary’s OTP Bank, which has been working with the EBRD for many years.
In the third quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue increased by 7.3% compared to the third quarter of 2024, to UAH 1 billion 242.3 million, while net profit almost doubled, to UAH 808.0 million.
EBRD, FINANCING, LOAN, OTP LEASING, SMES
Over the next two weeks, Ukraine and its partners will work out in detail what sources of funding can be allocated for the implementation of the Ukraine prosperity plan, which is being developed as part of the peace agreement, how much of this funding can come from public sources, and how much can be financed by the private sector, said Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev.
“The $800 billion (total amount of the Ukraine Prosperity Plan – IF-U) comes from both private and public sources. According to our estimates, about $500 billion should come primarily from public sources: in the form of grants, some concessionary loans – that is, both what needs to be repaid and what does not need to be repaid,” Sobolev said at a briefing following the results of the economic block of consultations held in Kyiv on January 3 with national security advisers from 15 partner countries, the European Council, the European Commission, and NATO.
The minister added that at the same time, work will be done to determine which sectors of the economy have enough projects for the next 10 years to attract the private sector, and through which instruments this capital can flow into Ukraine.
According to him, this work has been going on for a long time, with the involvement of the World Bank and the European Union, so preliminary calculations already exist.
“Now we need to agree with all countries on the figures for each sector and overall needs, as well as the sources that can be found over these 10 years,” Sobolev explained.
He noted that there is a desire to attract more funding from the private sector, as this provides additional investment in Ukraine and improves reforms.
“But the private sector comes after there is a security framework, a security guarantee, and macro-financial stability, which requires institutional funds, funds from countries. And when there are reforms, and when there is concession capital, which reduces the risks of working in Ukraine,” the Minister of Economy also noted.
He specified that the next meetings will be held in Paris on January 5 in order to develop a joint plan with the US, European countries, as well as Canada and Norway.
Housing supply in Ukraine remains limited due to a lack of funding sources for developers and the effects of shelling, according to the NBU’s financial stability report for December 2025.
According to the regulator, the area of housing commissioned in the first half of 2025 corresponds to the figure for the same period last year, but the share of apartments in this structure has decreased. According to the NBU, the supply is mainly replenished by the completion of long-started residential complexes, while new projects are launched extremely rarely and mainly in the western regions.
Separately, the NBU emphasizes the impact of air strikes: in the first nine months of 2025, more than twice as many homes were damaged by shelling than in the same period last year.
The European Investment Bank is considering a EUR70 million project to supply Mykolaiv with drinking water.
“The sub-project aims to restore Mykolaiv’s access to drinking water after serious damage to its water supply infrastructure as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant by Russian troops in 2023. The implementation of the sub-project will bring significant environmental and social benefits, including improved water quality, reduced pollution, and increased energy efficiency,” the project description states.
In addition, temporary jobs will be created during the construction of infrastructure elements, the document notes.
According to information on the bank’s website, the beneficiaries of the financing are state bodies and companies. The project is part of the Ukraine Municipal Infrastructure Development Program, launched in 2015 with financing in the form of a EUR400 million framework loan.
As reported, in September 2024, the government reached preliminary agreements with the EIB to attract donor funds for the construction of a water intake from the Southern Bug River and a main water pipeline in Mykolaiv.
The EIB has been operating in Ukraine since 2007. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the Bank stepped up its financial support to help strengthen the country’s resilience and rebuild its infrastructure. Since then, the EIB has provided Ukraine with EUR 4 billion in financing.
