The participants in the EU summit agreed to finance Ukraine with 90 billion euros in 2026-2027, announced the President of the European Council Antonio Costa.
“We made commitments and fulfilled them“, he wrote.
The funds in question were taken from the bloc's general budget, the proposal to use frozen Russian assets was rejected, the Financial Times reports, citing sources.
According to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the loan in question is interest-free. He noted that Russian assets “will remain frozen until Russia pays compensation to Ukraine“.
After more than 16 hours of discussion, the parties reached a solution. According to the Financial Times, France and Italy were the most insistent in calling for the proposal to use the bloc's common budget.
EU leaders said the scheme “would not entail any financial obligations for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia“. The three countries had previously said they would not support the use of EU funds to finance Ukraine.
“They are not obliged to pay, but we will make them “pay” for it,“ a senior European official said.
The EU summit instructed the European Commission to continue work on a “reparation loan“ for Kiev based on Russian assets, said Costa.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that the EU would finance Ukraine with a 90 billion euro loan, but "reserves the right to use Russian assets". He also said that the European financing for Kiev would be provided at zero interest.
“The financial package for Ukraine has been finalized. As I called for, Ukraine is being provided with an interest-free loan of 90 billion euros. These funds are enough to cover Ukraine's military and budgetary needs for the next two years,“ Merz told reporters after the first day of the EU summit.
“Ukraine will only have to repay the loan after Russia pays reparations. "And we clearly state: if Russia does not pay the reparations, we, in full compliance with international law, will use Russia's frozen assets to repay the loan," Merz stressed.