KYIV: The EU plans to lend Ukraine 35 billion euros, backed up by the revenues of Russian assets frozen in the bloc, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
"We are now confident that we can deliver this loan to Ukraine very quickly, a loan that is backed by the windfall profits from immobilised Russian assets," von der Leyen said, speaking alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. "It will provide you with significant and much needed fiscal space. You will decide how best to use the funds," she told Zelensky.
Ukraine is desperate for funds as it seeks to prop up its economy and keep its electricity grid functioning this winter after bombardments by Moscow's forces.
The EU's proposal -- which needs to be signed off by member states -- is part of a bigger plan agreed by G7 powers in June to use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to loan Kyiv $50 billion. The EU has frozen roughly $235 billion of Russian central bank funds since the Kremlin launched its attack of Ukraine in 2022, the vast bulk of immobilised Russian assets worldwide. About 90 percent of the funds in the EU are held by the international deposit organisation Euroclear, based in Belgium.
The G7 plan seeks to leverage the assets to get more funds to Ukraine and will replace an EU scheme currently in place that funnelled $1.7 billion to Kyiv in July.
There has been a delay in implementing the G7 loan as the United States had sought guarantees from the EU that the Russian assets would remain frozen.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he hopes US President Joe Biden will support his plan to end the war with Russia, ahead of a trip to Washington.
Zelensky has promised to present his so-called "victory plan" to end the fighting, which has killed thousands, to Biden in the coming days.
"I really hope that he will support this plan," Zelensky said during a press conference with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv. "The plan is designed for decisions that will have to happen from October to December... We would like that very much. Then we believe that the plan will work," he added. Zelensky will present the plan to the United States after a summer of intense fighting, with Moscow advancing in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv holding on to parts of Russia's Kursk region.
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