The European Union has sent €3 billion to Ukraine in the form of a cash loan that is to be repaid via seized Russian assets.
Part of a larger, G7 backed Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) loan of €18.1 billion, the funds are to be repaid using the “extraordinary profits from immobilised Russian assets collected from the Ukraine Loan Co-operation Mechanism (ULCM)”.
In a January 10 press release, the European Commission said the method of repayment sent “a clear signal that the burden of rebuilding Ukraine will be shouldered by those responsible for its destruction”.
“Every day for over 1,000 days, Russia has been destroying the homes of Ukrainian people and deliberately targeting critical infrastructure including energy supplies,” EC foreign affairs tsar Kaja Kallas said.
“The loan will be repaid with the proceeds from frozen Russian assets in the EU. Russia started this war so Russia must pay the price of it.”
Ukraine will be permitted to use the cash to help rebuild its infrastructure and restabilise its finances, both of which have been left crippled by Moscow’s invasion.
This, the EC added, would free-up existing funding available to Ukraine to be spent on its war effort.
Payments to the country via the G7 loan will continue at the rate of €1 billion a month every month until December, when the remaining €6.1 billion will be delivered.
The move came as Europe braces for a potential attempt by US President-elect Donald Trump to end the war in Ukraine. The soon-to-be US commander-in-chief has confirmed he would be meeting with his Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging Trump not to broker any kind of agreement unfavourable to his country. He has insisted a bad deal for the country would only embolden the Kremlin to engage in more hostile military activity in the long-run.
Eurocrats have stated that they would continue to back Ukraine, even if a Trump-led US did not, although questions have been asked as to how capable the bloc manage single-handedly bolstering the country in the face of Russian aggression.
The US is expected to announce $500 million in military aid for Ukraine at a final gathering of outgoing President Joe Biden’s weapons-pledging conferences. https://t.co/ZtzUV0HF8N
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 9, 2025
