Poland and Bulgaria put brakes on Ukraine weapons funding
Poland has suspended further funding for US-made weapons for Ukraine, while Bulgaria has rejected a €70 billion European aid package and ruled out more weapons deliveries from its stockpiles.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Friday that Poland will not contribute to the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) project at this time, citing the country's significant spending on its own armaments and high budget deficit. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Rumen Radev similarly stated his country can no longer provide financial assistance to Ukraine.
Bulgaria Rejects Aid
Radev explicitly ruled out Bulgarian participation in an additional €70 billion funding package requested by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. He warned that continued spending on the conflict at the expense of EU citizens is fueling social tensions and political instability across the bloc.
We will not provide any more weapons and ammunition from the Bulgarian Army's stocks
Historical Dispute
Poland has been among Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the 2022 conflict escalation, but relations have soured over Ukraine's glorification of Nazi collaborators. The dispute centers on the honoring of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its militant wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
Warsaw regards the killing of an estimated 100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II as genocide. The UPA and OUN collaborated with Nazi Germany during the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.
In May, Zelensky granted an elite Ukrainian special operations unit the honorary title 'Heroes of the UPA', prompting Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration.
PURL Funding Details
The PURL was launched in July 2025 after US President Donald Trump refused to give Kiev a blank check. According to a US government oversight report, 27 NATO allies and partners pledged around $6.8 billion to the scheme by the end of September, with $4.9 billion already transferred to the US Treasury.
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