Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland have urged the European Commission to revive efforts to use more than €200 billion in immobilised Russian central bank assets to support Ukraine, as concerns grow over Kyiv’s worsening financial needs. The renewed initiative follows the collapse of a similar proposal in December 2025, when Belgium blocked the plan over legal and financial risks.
On Thursday (August 27), in a letter addressed to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee, whose country holds the rotating EU Council presidency, the four governments called for technical work on new options that would ensure financial risks are shared among member states. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said it was time to reconsider how the frozen assets could benefit both Ukraine and European security, arguing that the existing €90 billion EU support loan was insufficient.
The EU froze approximately €210 billion in Russian sovereign assets following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Out of this, €193 billion is held by Euroclear, the Brussels-based securities depository. While profits generated by these assets are already being used to support a separate loan agreed in 2024, proposals to mobilise the underlying assets themselves have faced significant political and legal obstacles.
The previous plan envisaged converting the immobilised assets into a zero-interest reparations loan for Ukraine, with repayment linked to future Russian reparations. Brussels maintained that the mechanism would not constitute outright confiscation. Belgium, however, opposed the proposal, fearing disproportionate exposure to Russian litigation and potential financial instability because Euroclear holds the majority of the assets. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever demanded that any risks be fully shared among EU member states.
As an alternative, EU leaders agreed in December 2025 to a €90 billion loan intended to cover Ukraine’s needs in 2026 and 2027. However, Kyiv now faces an estimated €23 billion funding gap, partly driven by increased military expenditure and Russia’s continued missile and drone attacks.
The four countries want the issue discussed at the upcoming informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland on 1–2 September. The European Commission has said it will examine their request, although EU officials acknowledge that the political and legal obstacles that derailed the previous proposal remain largely unresolved.
Source: commonspace.eu with Euronews (Brussels), Financial Times (London) and Modern Diplomacy (Plovdiv)
