The sensitive meeting of the European Union about the use of Russian frozen assets for Ukraine

European Union leaders met on Thursday to try to resolve their differences over plans to use frozen Russian assets to finance the war in Ukraine.
According to RCO News Agency, the talks in Brussels focused on reassuring Belgium – which owns the majority of these frozen assets – and several other concerned couries, so that Europe will joily accept the legal and financial risks of this project and gain their support.
According to Reuters, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged other EU leaders to agree to the proposal: “Now we have a simple choice: money today, or blood tomorrow.”
The European Union considers Russia’s war a threat to its security and was to coinue financing Ukraine and help the coury’s resistance.
The European Commission has proposed using the frozen assets of the Russian ceral bank – mostly held in Belgium’s Euroclear – to guaraee a large loan to Kyiv.
But Belgium is deeply concerned about being exposed to legal and financial risks, and other couries, including Italy, have expressed similar concerns.
Several EU leaders arrived at the meeting saying it was vital to find a solution. They were also keen to show the strength and resolve of European couries after US Preside Donald Trump called them “weak” last week.
“We really can’t afford to fail,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaya Callas.
He added that the leaders will stay in the meeting as long as necessary to reach a solution.
Tusk also said the leaders had agreed to work only on the loan option and not the other options, but stressed that they still had hours of technical and complex talks ahead.
Ukrainian Preside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was prese at the meeting, asked the European Union to come to an agreeme that, according to him, would allow Ukraine to coinue the war.
“The decision that’s on the table now — the decision to fully use Russian assets to defend against Russian aggression — is one of the clearest and most morally sound decisions that can be made,” he said.
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