European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to help meet Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years but did not explicitly approve the use of frozen Russian assets to fund a large loan for Kyiv, after Belgium raised concerns.
“The European Council commits to address Ukraine’s pressing financial needs for 2026-2027, including for its military and defence efforts,”
said a text agreed upon at a summit in Brussels by all leaders of EU countries except Hungary.
The document asked the European Commission to present as soon as possible “options for financial support based on an assessment of Ukraine’s financing needs”.
It also stated that, subject to EU law, “Russia’s assets should remain immobilised until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused by its war”.
The final version did not include an explicit endorsement of the proposal to use Russian frozen assets to back a “reparation loan” worth about 140 billion euros ($163 billion), which had been supported by several EU member states.
An earlier draft of the conclusions contained a sentence that said:
“The European Council therefore calls on the Commission to present as soon as possible, based on an assessment of Ukraine’s financing needs, concrete proposals involving the possible gradual use of the cash balances associated with the immobilised Russian assets, in accordance with EU and international law.”
This line was removed from the final text.
Many EU diplomats had anticipated that leaders would ask the Commission to prepare a formal legal proposal on the loan plan. However, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, whose country holds the frozen assets through the Euroclear securities depository, outlined three conditions to ensure Belgium would not assume all the risks.
“If demands are met, we can go forward. If not, I will do everything in my power at the European level, also at the national level, politically and legally to stop this decision,” De Wever said on arrival at the summit.
He called on all EU members to share the costs of any potential legal action from Russia and to contribute financially if the funds ever had to be repaid. He also said that Russian frozen assets held in other countries should be included in the plan.
“There must be transparency about the risk. There must be transparency about the legal basis for this decision,” he said.
