European Union leaders will decide whether to use frozen Russian assets to lend billions of euros of cash to Ukraine to keep its war effort afloat at a summit on Thursday seen as a critical test of the group’s strength.
The E.U. sees Russia’s war as a threat to its own security and wants to keep Ukraine financed and fighting if there is no peace deal.
“We just can’t afford to fail. We have to show that we are strong,” E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, adding that leaders would stay as long as needed at the Brussels summit to find a solution.
The European Commission has proposed using frozen Russian central bank assets that are mostly held in a Belgian clearing house to secure a huge loan to Kyiv. But Belgium is deeply concerned about legal and financial risks, and other states including Italy have also expressed worries.
E.U. leaders arriving at the summit said it was imperative they find a solution. They were also keen to show European countries’ strength and resolve after President Donald Trump last week called them “weak.”
“Now we have a simple choice — either money today or blood tomorrow. And I am not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. “All European leaders have to finally rise to this occasion.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she would not leave the summit without agreement on how to finance Ukraine over the next two years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to participate in the summit in person. He had previously been expected to join by video call, underlining the urgency of the situation as seen from Kyiv.
