Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 18 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to European leaders in a video address on the evening of the 17th, urging consensus at the EU summit scheduled for December 18–19 on utilizing frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine. However, U.S. media revealed the same day that the American government has recently intensified pressure on EU member states to reject the proposal during the summit.

Zelensky: A Political Solution Is Needed

Zelensky will attend the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, from December 18 to 19. He emphasized that Ukraine requires genuine protection, including security and financial solutions—particularly a political resolution regarding the use of Russia’s frozen overseas assets.

This summit, the EU’s final leaders’ meeting of the year, will focus on aid to Ukraine, among other issues. Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated on the 15th that the bloc is exploring multiple financing options for Ukraine, with the “most credible” being a “reparation loan” scheme. This would involve using frozen Russian assets as collateral to provide funding for Ukraine.

On December 12, the EU decided to “indefinitely freeze” Russian assets within its jurisdiction and aims to finalize specific usage plans during the summit. At the October summit, EU leaders failed to agree on the “reparation loan” proposal due to objections from Belgium and other countries.

Russia has repeatedly opposed the EU’s unilateral handling of its sovereign assets without consent, warning of retaliatory measures.

After Russia launched its special military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries froze approximately $300 billion of Russian overseas assets. Among these, the European Union (EU) froze around €210 billion in assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank. About 90% of the frozen Russian assets within the EU are held by Euroclear, a Brussels-based central securities depository.

U.S. Media: The U.S. Has Been Pressuring the EU

According to a report by Politico on the 17th, citing four EU officials as sources, the U.S. government has recently been pressuring EU member states to reject proposals at the upcoming EU summit to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine. The report states that U.S. officials bypassed EU leadership and secretly engaged directly with individual EU governments, leading Italy, Bulgaria, Malta, and the Czech Republic to join the opposition.

An EU senior official familiar with U.S.-EU relations and the summit preparations said, ‘They want to weaken us.’

In previous EU discussions, Hungary, Slovakia, and others have consistently opposed using the roughly €210 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets to support Ukraine.

Ukraine is expected to face a €71.7 billion budget shortfall next year. If funding is not secured by April, Ukraine may be forced to cut public spending. Meanwhile, under a U.S.-proposed ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine, the U.S. aims to allocate part of the frozen Russian assets for a U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Ukraine.

Politika points out that serious disagreements among European member states over how to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine have exposed deeper divisions across the continent regarding how to respond to the new world order and unprecedented pressure from the United States.