Zelensky: We expect a $3.5 billion fund for American weapons to continue the war against Russia

2025-09-17 21:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Zelensky: We expect a $3.5 billion fund for American weapons to continue the war

Ukraine expects to have about $3.5 billion in a fund next month to buy weapons from the United States to continue its more than three-year war against the Russian occupier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

The financial agreement, known as the Ukraine Primary Requirement List (PURL), collects contributions from NATO member countries, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, ammunition and equipment.

"We have received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program," Zelensky said at a joint press conference in Kyiv with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

"We will receive additional funds in October. I think we will have somewhere around 3.5–3.6 billion dollars," he stressed.

Zelensky did not provide details on the weapons that will come in the first deliveries, but stressed that they will include missiles for Patriot air defense systems and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

An end to the war in Ukraine still seems distant, despite months of US-led peace efforts.

Patriot systems are essential for defending against Russian missile attacks, while HIMARS systems have significantly strengthened the Ukrainian military's precision strike capability.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia's readiness for peace talks, telling reporters on Wednesday that "we remain open to negotiations and prefer to resolve the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic means."

However, Moscow has opposed the main proposals, which is why peace talks have stalled.

Meanwhile, the latest Russian air strikes overnight caused disruptions to Ukraine's rail and energy services, officials said Wednesday. Separately, a Russian bomb hit a town in the southern Kherson region, wounding three women and a 3-year-old girl, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said./ REL