French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said she was available for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels to discuss Ukraine's funding.
© LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images
13/11/2026
by
Lusa
A presidential candidate of the French extreme right, Marine Le Pen, declared himself available today for a meeting in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss Ukraine's funding.
“ Yes, if I can meet him in Brussels, I will tell the Ukrainian ambassador,” said the leader of the National Union in the margins of a visit to the Made in France Hall in Paris, quoted by the French agency AFP.
Marine Le Pen is due to meet on Monday, behind closed doors, with Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Omelchenko in Paris.
“ I think that the place [Brussels] would be quite justified, because the reality is that the problem of Ukraine’s funding is a problem that is now shaking Europe,” he added.
Regularly accused by opponents of complacency towards Moscow, Le Pen has criticized the financial support given to Ukraine.
Favorite in the polls to succeed Emmanuel Macron in May 2027, Le Pen stated that if elected, he would maintain “for six months” financial aid to Ukraine, but that, after that period, that support would cease.
“ We have seen a number of countries oppose further funding from Ukraine,” said the far-right leader, recalling that the European Union (EU) had already started to disburse EUR 90 billion to support Kyiv.
“The German leader [the Chancellor Friedrich Merz] is beginning to threaten one another, so this is beginning to become a European issue,” he said.
The Slovak and Czech Prime Ministers criticised on Tuesday Merz's willingness to make discussions on the next European budget conditional on a commitment by all 27 EU countries to participate in Ukraine's financing.
The EU granted a EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine for financing needs in 2026 and 2027.
In October, Kyiv announced that this amount would be insufficient, assessing the budgetary “hole” for next year by some EUR 70 billion.
The EU has committed itself to financing part of this deficit, namely EUR 45 billion, but it still needs to define how it will do so.
Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were exempted from contributing to the loan.
Kyiv has received help from the European allies for the purchase of arms and for the financing of the economy since being at war with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The Presidential elections in France will take place on 18 April 2027, with the second round scheduled for 2 May.