Brussels: European leaders agreed early on Friday to provide Ukraine with financial support for the next two years through a €90 billion (about $105 billion) loan, but failed to secure consensus on their preferred plan of using frozen Russian state assets as collateral.
The proposal to leverage immobilised Russian funds collapsed at the last moment during talks among EU heads of state and government in Brussels, exposing divisions within the bloc at a sensitive geopolitical juncture. Instead, leaders decided the loan would be backed by the European Union’s own budget.
While the alternative arrangement is expected to be costlier and harder to scale quickly—since it does not tap into the substantial pool of Russian assets frozen in Europe—officials said it would still deliver urgently needed funds to Kyiv. “This will address Ukraine’s immediate financial needs,” said António Costa, adding that the EU would keep open the option of eventually using Russia’s immobilised assets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision, calling it a meaningful boost for the country. “This is significant support that truly strengthens our resilience,” he wrote on social media platform X.
