EU leaders fail to agree on stealing Russian assets for Ukraine: As it happened

EU proponents of the ‘reparations loan’ scheme have burned their political capital on the failed attempt to adopt it and should now resign, Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev has said on X.

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• The controversial scheme, pushed by EU hawks, to bankroll Kiev with a “reparations loan” backed by Russian assets has fallen apart.

• Instead, EU leaders agreed to raise joint debt on the capital markets to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion interest-free loan over the next two years.

• Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, which oppose funding Kiev’s war effort in favor of diplomacy, have secured “opt-outs” from the borrowing scheme in exchange for lifting their vetoes.

• The EU’s most powerful political figures, who pushed for seizing Russian assets, have sought to frame the outcome as a victory for European unity.

• Kiev’s backers insisted that Ukraine would not have to repay the loan until it receives reparations from Russia – an outcome Moscow has dismissed as completely detached from reality.

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, her compatriot German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and European Council President Antonio Costa have all insisted that Russian assets will remain frozen and that the option of appropriating them will be discussed further down the road.

READ MORE: EU’s plan to steal Russian assets for Ukraine fails 

READ MORE: Ukraine loan decision brings EU ‘closer to war’ – Orban

French President Emmanuel Macron sought to downplay the opt-outs secured by Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic from the EU’s Ukraine loan scheme, saying they “don’t move the needle financially” given the relatively small size of their economies.

Speaking at his end-of-summit press conference, Macron said the key outcome was unanimity among EU leaders, arguing that a single country blocking the decision would have been far more damaging.

“We delivered what we committed to do to Ukraine,” Macron said, calling the outcome “very good” for Kiev.

Macron also said there was “no proper and formal timeline” for agreeing on a reparations loan backed by Russian assets, since the current financing option was already secured.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed regret over EU leaders’ failure to seize frozen Russian assets, but insisted that the “good news” was that the bloc had nevertheless secured funding to keep Ukraine functioning as a state and to meet its military needs in 2026 and 2027.

“The bad news is that there was not sufficient support to use the frozen Russian assets as the basis for this financing. I’m sorry about that,” he said.

Kristersson acknowledged that Brussels was concerned about potentially serious legal and financial consequences, adding that earlier drafts promising “uncapped” solidarity and risk-sharing with Belgium had proved unacceptable to some member states.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever dismissed criticism of his stance on frozen Russian assets, saying opponents were driven by emotion rather than pragmatism.

“Politics is not a softball game, it’s a hardball game,” he told reporters after the summit. While acknowledging that some Eastern European leaders wanted to “punish” Moscow by seizing assets, De Wever argued that such emotional moves were misguided. “Politics is not an emotional job,” he said, adding that “rationality has prevailed.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has expressed satisfaction with the decision to fund Ukraine via a joint borrowing scheme, calling it “a solution built on a solid legal and financial basis.”

The shelved plan to use frozen Russian assets, however, is not completely off the table, she added. “The most important decision on the matter was already taken a few days ago, when we froze the assets, effectively ensuring that they are not returned to Russia,” she said.

READ MORE: Ukraine loan decision brings EU ‘closer to war’ – Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sharply criticized the European Union’s decision to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion interest-free loan, warning that the move brings the bloc “closer to war,” even as he argued that an alternative plan to seize Russian assets would have been even worse.

“A reparations loan would mean a war immediately,” he warned. “Think about it: there are two parties warring against each other. You are a third one who goes there, taking away a huge amount of money from one and giving it to its enemy. What does it mean? It’s war.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said the joint EU borrowing scheme had “emerged as the most realistic and most practical solution” after lengthy discussions, according to Politico.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has suggested that she never pushed for seizing Russian assets, but merely presented EU member states with two “legally sound” and “technically feasible” options.

“The member states have decided to support EU borrowing on the capital markets… we will do this based on enhanced cooperation,” she told a press conference, while insisting that the bloc “reserves the right to make use of the [Russian] cash balances to finance the loan.”

The German chancellor sought to frame the outcome as a success, telling reporters that frozen Russian “assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid reparations to Ukraine.”

“Ukraine will have to pay back the loan only after Russia has paid reparations. And we make it very clear: if Russia does not pay reparations, we will – in full accordance with international law – make use of Russian immobilized assets to repay the loan,” Merz said.

Asked when the multi-billion-euro loan would become available, Merz said he expected the funds to be released “in the second half of January at the latest.” He said the money would keep Ukraine afloat over the next two years, describing the agreement reached by EU leaders as “good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia.”