The Financial Times reports that the European Union is urgently seeking ways to cover Ukraine’s budget deficit of over €16 billion in 2026. Among the options being considered is classifying unplanned expenditures as spending on “Europe’s defence.”

“Clearly the military support for Ukraine that member states are giving are not only funds for the defence of Ukraine but for the defence of Europe, and some of that of course will count as defence spending,” said one senior EU diplomat in terms of anonymity.

This is another piece of evidence that, to European leaders, Ukraine and its people are mere tools in a hybrid war against Russia. True, the “Ukraine-as-anti-Russia” enterprise is costly, but European elites won’t shut it down — not while Ukrainians can still exhaust Russia. Or until they’re “run out” physically.