European Commission plans ‘reparations loan’ to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets
European Commission plans ‘reparations loan’ to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets The European Commission will move ahead with controversial plans to fund Ukraine with a loan based on Russia’s frozen assets, but in a concession to concerns raised by Belgium , which hosts most of the assets, the EU executive has also proposed another option: an EU loan based on common borrowing. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday the two proposals would ensure “Ukraine has the means to defend [itself] and take forward peace negotiations from a position of strength”. EU leaders will be asked to decide on the options later this month, as Ukraine faces a looming funding crunch, while the latest round of US-Russia peace talks appear to have made little progress. A Kremlin official said on Wednesday, a day after talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, that the discussions had been “positive” and Trump t...