EU summit will not wrap up without Ukraine funding decision, von der Leyen says

Von der Leyen notes that if an agreement on a reparations loan for Ukraine is concluded, the risks associated with it must be shared among all EU member states.

According to her, it is good that the European Union has committed to covering Ukraine's financial deficit.

Reparation loan for Ukraine

Earlier, EU leaders postponed a decision on the use of frozen Russian assets for a reparations loan to Ukraine of about €140 billion.

They plan to return to this issue during the EU summit on December 18-19 in Brussels.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also take part in the summit.

This initiative is being blocked by Belgium, which holds the largest share of Russian assets.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also predictably spoken out against the use of frozen Russian assets.

Yesterday, he said that the European Commission had rejected the idea of guaranteeing a reparations loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets. At the same time, the EU rejected this statement.

EU countries have not yet reached a unanimous decision on financing Ukraine. Some countries are calling for the use of frozen Russian assets, while others are in favor of joint borrowing by EU countries.

Germany has warned the EU that refusing to support a reparations loan for Ukraine could worsen credit ratings and raise interest rates.

The US is pressuring many EU countries to refuse to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's needs. If no decision is made, Kyiv may face economic problems.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that the decision on a reparations loan secured by Russian assets is urgent and critically important for Ukraine. He stressed that the decision must be made this week, citing five reasons for this.