EU countries are expected to reach an agreement today to cover Ukraine's financial needs for the next two years, European Council President Antonio Costa said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
"Today we will take a political decision to guarantee Ukraine's financial needs for 2026 and 2027", Costa said before a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
"We continue to work with the European Commission on technical solutions, but the most important thing is the political decision", he stressed.
One of the symbols of long-term support is the EC's proposal to use frozen Russian assets in Europe to secure a 140 billion euro "reparation loan" for Ukraine.
Under this plan, the EU would use frozen securities of the Russian central bank.
To approve the proposal, leaders will try to allay concerns related to legal and financial risks that have been raised by the Belgian leadership, which stores Russian assets in the Belgium-based securities depository "Euroclear" (Euroclear).
European governments have also begun discussions on the terms of the loan.
Some want all the money to go to the Ukrainian armed forces, with most of it spent on European weapons, while others have said Kiev should be able to use part of the loan to buy US weapons and that the money should be used for general budget support.
A senior official in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration told Reuters that Kiev needed the funding by the end of the year and needed autonomy in deciding how to use it.
The European Commission has proposed a compromise under which most of the loan would be spent on Ukrainian and European weapons, with a small portion going to the Ukrainian budget, which Kiev could spend on buying weapons outside Europe.
As a next step, the leaders expect the European Commission to be tasked with presenting a formal proposal legal proposal.
Russia described the idea as an illegal seizure of property and warned of retaliatory measures.
European countries today officially approved the 19th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes a ban on the import of Russian liquefied natural gas.
The twenty-seven member states adopted the package last night after Slovakia abandoned its blocking.
The ban on the import of liquefied natural gas will come into force in two stages - short-term contracts will end in six months, and long-term ones from January 1, 2027. The full ban will come into force a year earlier than foreseen in the EC's roadmap for ending the bloc's dependence on Russian fuels.
The measures in the package also include new mechanisms to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats in the EU.
"It (the sanctions package) is aimed at Russian banks, crypto exchanges, as well as companies in India and China," said the head of European diplomacy Kaia Kallas on the social network "Ex".
Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the new sanctions imposed by the EU and the US and called for even greater pressure on Russia to agree on a ceasefire.
"The nineteenth package is very important, but the US sanctions are also very important and this is a good signal for other countries around the world to join the sanctions," Zelensky said.
He thanked US President Donald Trump in "Ex" on the new sanctions against Russia.