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EU leaders are racing to secure a funding deal for Ukraine that has been cast as a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”, but Belgium continues to oppose a loan secured against Russia’s frozen assets.
At a summit billed as make or break, EU leaders are discussing an unprecedented move to tap some of Russia’s €210bn sovereign assets frozen in the bloc days after the full-scale invasion of 2022.
Under the scheme, the EU would provide Kyiv with a €90bn loan to help keep Ukraine in the fight, as Russia ekes out gains on the battlefields.
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said leaders had a simple choice: “Either money today or blood tomorrow.”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he wanted to see a decision on funding by the end of the year, amid forecasts his country faces bankruptcy in the spring. “If these funds can serve European security by holding the aggressor accountable for its war against Ukraine and against Europe, then why would we leave Moscow with any hope or confidence that the money will still come back no matter what it has done,” he told EU leaders.
“I know that Russia is intimidating different countries over this decision. But we should not be afraid of threats – we should be afraid of Europe being weak.”
EU leaders have been presented with two options to meet Ukraine’s estimated €136bn funding needs in 2026 and 2027: a “reparations loan” secured against Russian frozen assets or joint EU borrowing to fund Kyiv. The European Commission, which proposed the €90bn loan, expects Ukraine’s other western allies to make up the rest.
Germany and other frugal countries, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, strongly support tapping Russian assets, rather than European taxpayers. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the reparations loan was the only option. “We are basically faced with the choice of using European debt or Russian assets for Ukraine, and my opinion is clear: We must use the Russian assets.”
But Belgium, which hosts most of the Russian assets, said it had not received adequate guarantees from the rest of the EU if the scheme went wrong. “Give me a parachute and we’ll all jump together,” Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, told members of the Belgian parliament before the summit began. “If we have confidence in the parachute that shouldn’t be a problem.
Belgium has pressed for unlimited guarantees that mean it would not be left alone with the bill should Russia succeed in retaliatory legal claims against Euroclear or Belgian companies.
A draft summit text presented on Thursday pledged “full solidarity” and risk-sharing with countries and financial institutions in the context of the reparations loan. But the text seen by the Guardian was scant on details sought by Belgium, such as how quickly guarantees would materialise, or how long they would last.
The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, on a visit to Athens, stressed the importance of “mobilising” Russia’s frozen assets, saying it was clear Moscow was still bent on waging its war of aggression in Ukraine.
“I see two presidents who are pursuing peace at the moment, President Trump and President Zelenskyy, and one president, President Putin, who is still seeking to escalate conflict and war,” she said. “That is why it is so important to make progress on mobilising the Russian sovereign assets in order to be able to support Ukraine and also to be able to put increased pressure on Russia to properly bring them to the table and pursue peace.”
Russia’s central bank announced on Thursday that it would pursue damages against European banks “for the illegal blocking and use of its assets”, after its claim for $230bn in damages from Euroclear. Euroclear, the Brussels depository where €185bn Russian assets are parked, has been subject to an intimidation campaign, security officials told the Guardian.
Zelenskyy said he had had “a good conversation” with De Wever during a one-on-one meeting, but that his country faced bigger risks. “One can fear certain legal steps in court from the Russian Federation but it is not as scary as when Russia is at your borders.”
In an impassioned speech to EU leaders he urged them to agree the reparations loan on strategic and self-interest grounds. He said much of the funds would be spent on European weapons, while stressing Ukraine also needed some equipment not available in Europe, such as US missile defence systems.
Alongside Belgium, Italy, Malta and Bulgaria favour an EU loan, secured against unallocated funds in the EU budget. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said using Russia’s assets frozen in Europe to help Ukraine without a solid legal basis would hand Moscow “the first victory since the start of the war”.
But common borrowing requires unanimity of the 27 member states. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has slammed using Russia’s frozen assets as a “stupid” idea, while also announcing his veto to joint debt “to finance a war that isn’t our’s”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was confident leaders would find a solution. “We are going to find a technical solution, therefore we must not be divided over technical details. Everyone must be listened and heard.”
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not leave the summit without a solution. The meeting is scheduled to finish on Friday.
The talks are unfolding against a separate diplomatic dance orchestrated by the Trump administration, which is seeking to negotiate a deal to end the war. US and Russian officials are expected to meet in Miami this weekend to discuss Trump’s peace plan, a White House official told AFP on Wednesday.
Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to take part on the US side, while Putin’s economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, will represent Russia, Politico reported.
