EU leaders agree on 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine after a plan to use
Russian assets unravels
[December 19, 2025]
By LORNE COOK and ANGELA CHARLTON
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a
massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic
needs for the next two years, but they failed to bridge differences with
Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to
raise the funds.
After almost four years of war, the International Monetary Fund
estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in
2026 and 2027. The government in Kyiv is on the verge of bankruptcy, and
desperately needs the money by spring.
The plan had been to use some of the 210 billion euros ($246 billion)
worth of Russian assets that are frozen in Europe, mostly in Belgium.
The leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reassure Belgium that
they would protect it from any Russian retaliation if it backed the
“reparations loan” plan, but as the talks bogged down the leaders
eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.
“We have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) of
support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” EU
Council President António Costa said in a post on social media.
Not all countries agreed to the loan package. Hungary, Slovakia and the
Czech Republic refuse to support Ukraine and opposed it, but a deal was
reached in which they did not block the package and were promised
protection from any financial fallout.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s closest ally in Europe and describes himself as a peacemaker,
said “I would not like a European Union in war.”
“To give money means war,” said Orbán. He also described the rejected
plan to use the frozen Russian assets as a “dead end.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal was a major advance,
saying that borrowing on capital markets “was the most realistic and
practical way” to fund Ukraine and its war efforts.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also hailed the decision.
“The financial package for Ukraine has been finalized,” Merz said in a
statement, noting that “Ukraine is granted a zero-interest loan."
“These funds are sufficient to cover the military and budgetary needs of
Ukraine for the two years to come,” Merz added. He said the frozen
assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid war reparations to
Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that would
cost over 600 billion euros ($700 billion).
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From left, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European
Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen address a media conference at the EU Summit in
Brussels, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
“If Russia does not pay reparations we will — in full accordance
with international law — make use of Russian immobilized assets for
paying back the loan,” Merz said.
Zelenskyy, who traveled to Brussels for a summit that took place
during fiery protests by farmers angry about a proposed trade deal
with five South American countries, had appealed for a quick
decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned early on Thursday that it
would be a case of sending “either money today or blood tomorrow” to
help Ukraine.
The plan to use frozen Russian assets got bogged down as Belgian
Prime Minister Bart De Wever rejected the scheme as legally risky,
and warned that it could harm the business of Euroclear, the
Brussels-based financial clearing house where 193 billion euros
($226 billion) in frozen assets are held.
Belgium was rattled last Friday when Russia’s Central Bank launched
a lawsuit against Euroclear to prevent any loan being provided to
Ukraine using its money, which is frozen under EU sanctions slapped
on Moscow after its launched its full-scale war in 2022.
“For me, the reparations loan was not a good idea," De Wever told
reporters after the meeting. “When we explained the text again,
there were so many questions that I said, I told you so, I told you
so. There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the
loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses.”
“We avoided stepping into a precedent that risks undermining legal
certainty worldwide. We safeguarded the principle that Europe
respects law, even when it is hard, even when we are under
pressure,” he said, adding that the EU "delivered a strong political
signal. Europe stands behind Ukraine."
Still, Costa said that the EU "reserves its right to make use of the
immobilized assets to repay this loan.”
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