Use frozen assets to end Russia’s appetite for war, Zelensky tells Europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on European Union (EU) leaders at a crunch summit urgently to agree to a multi-billion-euro loan in frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine’s military and economic needs.
Ukraine is months from running out of cash and Zelensky said without an injection by spring Ukraine “will have to reduce production of drones”.
Most of Russia’s €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear. Until now Belgium and some other member states have said they are opposed to using the cash as a “reparations loan”.
Russia has warned EU leaders not to use its money, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said they had to “rise to this occasion”.
The Brussels summit comes at a pivotal moment in the war and Russia has filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in a Moscow court in a bid to get its money back.
Zelensky said Ukraine was definitely facing a 45-50bn [euro] deficit next year, and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed “we will not leave the summit without a solution”. One European government official described being “cautiously optimistic, not overly optimistic” that a deal would be agreed.
All eyes are on Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who told the Belgian parliament on Thursday that if everything was nailed down and shared by the rest of the EU, “then we’ll jump into the abyss together with the rest of the Europeans and hope the parachute holds us”.
