EU's frozen-asset funding for Ukraine may need bridging solution

The European Union may need to come up with a bridging solution to keep Ukraine financed in early 2026 if a deal on an EU loan, based on immobilised Russian assets, continues to be delayed, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.



The European Commission has proposed to use the cash that has accrued from maturing Russian central bank assets immobilised in Europe, mainly in Belgium's Euroclear securities depository, as the basis for a loan to finance Ukraine in 2026 and 2027. But the EU executive has to address some risks to Belgium before the idea gets endorsed by EU governments, which for now have promised to address Kyiv's pressing financial needs without specifying how they would do that.



"Our initial thinking was that we would be able to start providing, actually disbursing to Ukraine, already in the early second quarter of next year," Dombrovskis said.