Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Kyiv Gets $105B Lifeline After Compromise Struck

The European Union (EU) has agreed on a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine to help it through Russia’s ongoing invasion, a vital financial lifeline for Kyiv as it bears the vast cost of Moscow’s ongoing invasion.

But it is an immediate compromise on what many of Ukraine’s European allies had hoped for, which is to use frozen Russian assets to finance a reparations loan—a decision fraught with legal and financial risk that has been punted into the future pending yet more discussions.

What To Know

• The European Council said it has approved a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine, financed by EU borrowing. To secure that agreement, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia, which all opposed sending more EU funds to Kyiv, will see no impact on their financial obligations to the bloc’s budget.
• But Ukraine will only repay the loan once Russia has compensated it for the destruction wrought by Moscow’s war. Until then, the €210 billion ($247 billion) Russian assets within the EU will remain frozen. The Kremlin has accused Europeans of stealing the assets and threatened to retaliate.
• The Europeans could not come to an agreement on seizing the Russian assets for a reparations loan as originally hoped. Belgium, where most of the assets are held, expressed strong concerns about the political and legal blowback, as well as the threat of a severe Russian response. Instead, officials will “continue working on the technical and legal aspects”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude to the EU, which Kyiv hopes to join within the next couple of years, calling it “significant support that truly strengthens our resilience. It is important that Russian assets remain immobilized and that Ukraine has received a financial security guarantee for the coming years.”
• Dmitry Medvedev, a top Kremlin security official and a former president and prime minister of Russia, lashed out in a Telegram post, writing in Russian that the European Council summit was “a thieves’ gathering” of “EU mobsters” and that they “have not abandoned their plans to carry out a robbery or theft in the future”.
• The push for peace continues, as does the brutal war. The Kremlin is awaiting the latest set of proposals from Ukraine and Europe, mediated by the U.S., on a potential settlement to end the conflict. There remain acute differences between Russia and Ukraine on territorial concessions and security guarantees.

Stay with Newsweek for live updates from the Russia-Ukraine war.