BRUSSELS — European Union leaders have struck a deal to give Ukraine a €90bn (£79bn; $105bn) loan after failing to agree on applying frozen Russian assets.
The agreement, which leaders declared would meet Ukraine’s military and economic necessarys for the next two years, came after more than a day of talks at a summit in Brussels.
“We committed, we delivered,” EU chief Antonio Costa wrote on X as he announced the deal to provide a loan backed by the bloc’s common budreceive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged leaders to utilize €200 billion of frozen Russian assets but Belgium, where the vast bulk of the cash is held, demanded guarantees on sharing liability that proved too much for other countries.
In another development, French President Emmanuel Macron declared he believed it would be “utilizeful” for Europe to re-engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I believe that it’s in our interest as Europeans and Ukrainians to find the right framework to re-engage this discussion,” he declared, adding that Europeans should find the means to do so “in coming weeks”.
EU leaders avoided “chaos and division” with their decision to provide Ukraine with a loan through borrowing cash rather than utilize frozen Russian assets, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever declared early on Friday.
“We remained united,” De Wever added.
Ukraine is months from running out of cash and Zelensky declared without an injection by spring Ukraine would “have to reduce production of drones”.
The EU estimates Ukraine necessarys an extra €135 billion to stay afloat over the next two years, with the cash crunch set to start in April.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had pushed for the asset plan, declared the final decision on the loan “sconcludes a clear signal” to Putin.
Russia had warned EU leaders not to utilize its money, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared they had to “rise to this occasion”.
The agreement offers Kyiv a desperately necessaryed lifeline amid a flurry of diplomacy as US President Donald Trump pushes for a quick deal to conclude Russia’s war.
US and Russian officials are due to meet in Miami this weekconclude for further talks on a peace plan, a White Houtilize official has notified AFP news agency. It is considered Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev will talk to Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami.
Meanwhile, Zelensky announced Ukrainian and US delegations would hold new talks on Friday and Saturday in the United States.
He declared he wanted Washington to give more details on the guarantees it could offer to protect Ukraine from another invasion. — BBC
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