EU to decide on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

Concerns about legal and financial risks, but summit seen as test of group’s strength

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European Union leaders were set to decide whether to use frozen Russian assets to lend billions of euros in cash to Ukraine to keep its war effort afloat, at a summit on Dec 18 seen as a critical test of the group’s strength.

The EU sees Russia’s war as a threat to its own security and wants to keep Ukraine financed and fighting.

“We just can’t afford to fail. We have to show that we are strong,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, adding that leaders would stay as long as needed at the Brussels summit to find a solution.

The European Commission has proposed using frozen Russian central bank assets that are mostly held in a Belgian clearing house to secure a huge loan to Kyiv. But Belgium is deeply concerned about legal and financial risks, and other states, including Italy, have also expressed worries.

EU leaders arriving at the summit said it was imperative they find a solution. They were also keen to show European countries’ strength and resolve after US President Donald Trump last week called them “weak”.

“Now we have a simple choice - either money today or blood tomorrow. And I am not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.