Brussels Decides: 90 Billion Euros for Ukraine, Russia Denied Access to Frozen Funds

(Patria) - European Union leaders decided on Friday to provide financial assistance to Ukraine through borrowing, instead of using frozen Russian state assets, thereby bypassing deep political divisions on this sensitive issue.

EU summit chair Antonio Costa stated that a decision was made to secure 90 billion euros in aid for Ukraine over the next two years.

"Today we approved the decision to provide 90 billion euros to Ukraine. We will expedite a loan supported by the European Union budget," Costa said after hours of talks in Brussels.

At the same time, leaders mandated the European Commission to continue working on a so-called reparation loan based on immobilized Russian assets. However, this option has so far proven unfeasible, primarily due to the opposition of Belgium, where the largest portion of the frozen assets is located.

Although EU borrowing initially seemed impossible as it requires unanimous support, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic eventually agreed to the mechanism's establishment, with the condition that they would not bear the financial burden.

EU leaders stated that Russian assets, estimated at 210 billion euros, will remain frozen until Moscow pays war reparations to Ukraine. In that case, Ukraine could use these funds to repay the loan.

"This is good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The stakes were high because, without EU financial support, Ukraine could run out of funds to continue the war as early as the second quarter of next year, which, according to Brussels' estimates, would increase the risk of wider Russian aggression.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said that the technical and legal obstacles regarding the use of frozen Russian assets were too great.

"There were too many open questions about the reparation loan, so we had to move to Plan B. Rationality prevailed," said De Wever, adding that with this decision, the EU avoided chaos and preserved unity.