Russia’s assets should remain immobilised until Russia ceases its war, compensates Ukraine for damage caused – European Council

The European Union leaders have supported a EUR 35 billion loan to Ukraine as part of the G7 initiative to provide Ukraine with a USD 50 billion loan using proceeds from frozen Russian assets. At the same time, Russian assets will remain blocked until Russia ends the war.

That is according to the conclusions of the EU summit, which are published on the European Council website, Ukrinform reports.

“The European Council underlines the importance of living up to the commitment made at the G7 Apulia Summit to provide together with G7 partners approximately EUR 45 billion (USD 50 billion) by the end of the year to support Ukraine’s current and future military, budget and reconstruction needs,” the document reads.

In this respect the European Council invites the High Representative and the Commission to engage with Ukraine on each of those components.

Read also: Zelensky urges EU to allocate EUR 35B as soon as possible

“Subject to EU law, Russia’s assets should remain immobilised until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused by this war,” the document reads.

It is noted that in full respect of the security and defence policy of certain Member States, the European Council welcomes the agreement on the use of extraordinary revenues stemming from Russia’s immobilised assets, while continuing to address all relevant legal and financial aspects.

As Ukrinform reported, a meeting of EU leaders took place in Brussels on October 17th, with one of the main topics being the strengthening of support for Ukraine. At the invitation of European Council President Charles Michel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi attended the meeting and presented Ukraine's Victory Plan to European leaders.

Following the meeting with European leaders during the summit, the President of the European Parliament confirmed that MEPs would consider a €35 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets during next week's EP plenary session on Tuesday, October 22.