Overview
- A European Commission paper outlines a loan of about €140 billion using the cash value of immobilized Russian state assets, with funds split between building Ukraine’s defense industry and budget support.
- The budget-support leg would allow Kyiv to purchase weapons outside the EU and help provide assurances sought for a new IMF program.
- Brussels is also weighing whether to extend the approach to roughly €25 billion held in other immobilized private accounts across the EU, pending a legal assessment.
- EU leaders plan to push for swift work on the proposal at next week’s summit, with finance ministers due to review it in November, while Belgium and Euroclear demand burden-sharing and a robust liquidity backstop.
- EU officials say the U.K. and Canada are ready to work with the model, with responses from the U.S. and Japan still pending, as Ukraine presses partners to cover an estimated $60 billion financing gap for 2026–2027.