EU vows to bankroll Ukraine for next two years as it eyes Russian frozen assets

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, whose country holds the frozen assets that would be used in the scheme, via securities depository Euroclear, laid out three demands to guarantee his country would not shoulder all the risks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File picture: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

The European Union will on Thursday agree in principle to finance Ukraine for the next two years, EU Council chief Antonio Costa said, despite a Belgian threat to block its plan to use Russian frozen assets to aid Kyiv.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a guest at the EU summit in Brussels, said a quick passage of the plan to use the immobilised Russian assets to provide Ukraine with a €140bn ($163.27bn) loan would save lives.