Four EU countries urge EC to revive use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

Four EU countries - Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain - have called on the European Commission to resume work on a mechanism for using frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine, reopening discussions on the so-called reparations loan.

As per Report's European bureau, the four countries sent a letter to the European Commission on the matter.

The authors of the letter propose that the European Commission explore new legal and financial options for using the blocked assets in Ukraine's interests and find a solution under which the associated risks would be distributed among all EU countries without placing a disproportionate burden on one or several states.

Commenting on the issue, the European Commission said it had not yet received the document. However, EC spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said that the use of Russian assets remains on the agenda. According to him, the European Council called in December 2025 for continued examination of the legal and technical aspects of a potential reparations loan based on frozen Russian assets.

EC Chief Spokesperson Paula Pinho, in turn, added that there was insufficient support at last year's December summit to advance this option. Now, following the new appeal by the four countries, the issue could return to the political level.

T,o finance Ukraine's military and budgetary needs, EU countries agreed to provide it with a €90 billion loan for 2026–2027 through funds raised via borrowing.

According to estimates, this covers about two-thirds of Ukraine's financial needs through the end of 2027. The remaining third is expected to be covered by assistance from countries outside the EU.

More than €200 billion in Russian financial assets are frozen in the EU, a significant portion of which is held by Belgian depository Euroclear. An earlier attempt to use them to finance the proposed reparations loan faced opposition from Belgium due to concerns over possible lawsuits from Russia and financial risks for the country.