The European Union has failed to reach an agreement on using Russian assets to finance Ukraine

EU leaders were unable today to reach an agreement on using Russian assets to finance Ukraine.

Deutsche Welle reports this.

According to the outlet, the final communiqué published late yesterday evening does not mention this issue.

The document begins with Section II, devoted to the situation in the Middle East, while Section I—where financing for Ukraine for 2026–27 was supposed to be discussed—has been omitted.

Discussions of the issue of granting Ukraine a loan at the Brussels summit will continue today, December 19.

As a reminder, the European Commission and a number of European countries are promoting the idea of issuing Ukraine a so-called “reparations loan” using frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank held in Belgium. However, Belgium itself, as well as several other European countries—Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria—oppose this, citing potentially serious legal consequences and risks to confidence in the EU financial system.

According to media reports, Austria also has doubts.

In addition—and importantly—the United States is strongly opposed to providing Ukraine with a reparations loan, because Trump’s peace plan предусматривает (envisions) a different mechanism for using frozen Russian assets. Part of them is planned to be directed to Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction (through a fund managed by the U.S.), and part to joint Russian-American projects.