Zelensky tells IMF's Georgieva in New York that Fund will help Ukraine secure part of 2027 financing
President Volodymyr Zelensky met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on September 22, and said the IMF will help Ukraine find part of the funds needed for its financial stability in 2027. Zelensky told Georgieva that the Verkhovna Rada had already passed some of the legislation required by partners and that the remaining laws would be adopted by year's end.
Key points
- Zelensky met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on September 22 on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.
- Zelensky said the IMF will help Ukraine find part of the funds needed for its financial stability in 2027.
- Zelensky told Georgieva the Verkhovna Rada has already voted on part of the required legislation and the rest will be passed by the end of the year.
- Zelensky briefed Georgieva on the security situation and what he described as a change in Russian air-attack tactics aimed at paralyzing business and government operations.
- Zelensky's New York trip also included talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and US President Donald Trump on peace.
- On September 15 the Ukrainian government approved the draft 2027 budget, allocating nearly 5 trillion hryvnias to security and defense, a record level of spending.
- More than $32 billion of planned international financial inflows to Ukraine currently lack confirmation.
Why it matters
Ukraine faces a significant budget deficit for 2027, with more than $32 billion of planned international inflows still unconfirmed and the government already resorting to spending limits. Any IMF signal that it will help locate part of the 2027 funding is therefore material to Ukraine's fiscal stability and to the political timeline for the legislation the Rada still needs to pass.
What happened
President Volodymyr Zelensky met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in New York on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly. Zelensky said afterward that the IMF will help Ukraine find part of the funds needed for its financial stability in 2027. He briefed Georgieva on the security situation and on what he characterized as a shift in Russian air-attack tactics aimed at paralyzing business and government operations, and said macro-financial assistance was especially important for Ukraine at this moment. He also told her that the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, had already voted on part of the legislative decisions required by partners, with the remaining laws to be adopted by the end of the year. The New York trip included separate talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and US President Donald Trump on peace. After his conversation with von der Leyen, Zelensky said Ukraine and the EU would work out additional avenues of financial support; von der Leyen said that after progress on reforms in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine would receive additional budget financing, with €37 billion remaining available through the end of 2026.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian reporting foregrounds the domestic political conditions for unlocking external financing, repeatedly noting that the Verkhovna Rada has already voted on part of the required legislation and that the remaining laws will be passed by the end of the year. The coverage also ties the New York meeting to a wider fiscal picture shaped by Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko's warnings of forced spending limits and Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky's description of public finances as close to critical.
How international sources describe it
International agency coverage frames the story more narrowly around the headline outcome — that the IMF will help Ukraine find some of the funds needed for next year — without elaborating on the parliamentary reform conditions attached to that support.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on the exact timing of the Zelensky–Georgieva meeting. Most reports place it on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, during the high-level week of the 81st UN General Assembly, while earlier reporting refers to the meeting only as taking place during the UN General Assembly high-level week in New York without a specific date.
Background
On September 15, 2026, the Ukrainian government approved the draft 2027 state budget, allocating nearly 5 trillion hryvnias to security and defense, described as a record level of expenditures. In the weeks before the New York meetings, Ukrainian officials had been publicly warning of a strained budget: on September 10 Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said Ukraine had been forced to limit state expenditures because of delays in international aid; on September 14 Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky described public finances as close to critical and warned that delays in adopting required draft laws could cost Ukraine a significant portion of $29.5 billion in international financing; and over $32 billion of planned international inflows remained unconfirmed. On September 15, EU commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos sent a letter to Ukrainian lawmakers listing the laws Ukraine must adopt to access already-agreed EU funding, in response to Ukraine's request for an additional $27 billion for defense.