EU fails to reach agreement on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

EU leaders failed to reach an agreement on directly using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, instead settling on a €90 billion ($105 billion) EU borrowing package to cover Kyiv's financing needs for the next two years, the European Commission chief said early Friday.

Speaking after a European Council meeting, Ursula von der Leyen said member states had agreed to raise €90 billion through EU borrowing on capital markets for 2026 and 2027, but acknowledged that no consensus was reached on deploying immobilized Russian assets themselves.

"My guess is we would not have had the courage or the political momentum to permanently immobilize the Russian assets," she said.

Von der Leyen said that before last week's decision, the asset freeze had to be renewed every six months, leaving it vulnerable to a single veto.

"Every six months, there was a threat that just one member state not agreeing to the sanctions anymore. The rollover of the sanctions, the immobilized Russian assets would have been gone," she said.

"Now they are secured for good and can only be mobilized again with a qualified majority," von der Leyen added.

Despite that step, leaders did not agree to use the assets themselves to fund Ukraine. Instead, member states endorsed EU borrowing backed by budget headroom, combined with a conditional repayment mechanism.

"Ukraine has only to pay back the loans if Russia pays reparations. If this is not the case, Ukraine does not have to pay back the loans," von der Leyen said.

She also pointed to continued EU unity despite concerns about fatigue.

"Today, for example, we had the rollover of the sanctions. 19 packages of sanctions rollover, unanimously so," she said, calling the bloc's support for Ukraine over the last nearly four years of the war-which began in February 2022-"impressive."

Commenting on the European Council's decision to provide €90 billion to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to EU leaders, calling the move "significant support that truly strengthens our resilience."

"It is important that Russian assets remain immobilized and that Ukraine has received a financial security guarantee for the coming years. Thank you for the result and for unity. Together, we are defending the future of our continent," he said on US social media company X.