Ukraine parliament inches through reforms as funding deadlines loom

Prefer on Google by Luca Léry Moffat The Verkhovna Rada building features sandbags behind its windows and a facade decorated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 17, 2026. (Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images) Ukraine's parliament slowly advanced through a long list of reforms tied to billions in funding from lenders in a plenary session on April 29, with deadlines still not met on over a dozen others. Kyiv has agreed to pass a series of wide-ranging reforms as part of large funding packages from the International Monetary Fund, European Union, and World Bank, who say that the changes will improve Kyiv's ability to raise revenue, de-shadow its economy, and bring the country closer to European norms and standards. But reform progress has slowed amid the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion and gridlock in Ukraine's parliament , delaying billions of dollars, which are conditional on Kyiv implementing the changes. The failure to meet deadlines is in spite of mounting pressure from the country's donors and the country's need for continuous injections of foreign cash to keep its economy afloat and fund its war effort. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament, on April 29 passed two laws in the first reading connected to funding from the Ukraine Facility, a key EU support package. The laws, which make changes to the country's civil service and to renewable energy investment permits, had deadlines of December 2026. But lawmakers failed to pass the final version of a law on public procurement tied to a $3.35 billion loan from the World Bank on April 29, falling three votes shy of the 226 threshold. Kyiv must also approve two other laws related to World Bank funding before the bank will disburse the cash. The next opportunity to make progress will be during the plenary session in May. Kyiv is lagging behind on almost twenty indicators required by the EU to unlock Ukraine Facility funding, which had deadlines throughout 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The week's agenda also did not include any of the new taxes required as part of the IMF's new $8.1 billion program, launched in February 2026. Kyiv failed to meet a March 31 deadline to pass four new taxes, and has since passed just one of them. Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko recently signaled that Kyiv secured some understanding from the IMF at a series of high-level meetings in Washington D.C. that the taxes would be renegotiated. During the last plenary session in early April, Ukraine's parliament made an underwhelming dent in the long list of necessary reforms — despite public pressure from the EU. Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement chief, sent a letter to the speaker of Ukraine's parliament in the lead-up to the April 7 session, stressing the importance of making progress on reforms. Lawmakers did pass five bills tied to funding in that early April session — unlocking over $3 billion in delayed funds in the process. Ukraine was staring down the barrel of a budget crisis in the first months of this year, as outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked a massive 90 billion euros ($105 billion) European loan to Kyiv. Although Hungary unblocked the loan after Orban was defeated in parliamentary elections on April 12, the incoming funds that will cover Ukraine's budget for 2026 will also be conditional on the same reforms — plus more stringent conditions aligned with the IMF, according to documents seen by the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine spends practically all its own revenues on defense. The EU has become the principal funder in the last year, as the U.S. under President Donald Trump has ceased budgetary support to Ukraine.