A senior Ukrainian official claims that Washington is pressuring the Europeans not to use frozen Russian assets

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Wednesday that the administration of US President Donald Trump is “pressuring” European countries to “abandon the idea” of using Russian assets frozen in the EU to help Ukraine.

USA, Europe, Russia PHOTO: Shutterstock

“Seven countries do not already publicly support this idea”the official continued, speaking on the condition of anonymity, adding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is traveling to Brussels to convince the European leaders, gathered at a summit on Thursday, to use these assets, writes Agerpres.

About 210 billion euros from the Central Bank of Russia are currently frozen in the EU. They were frozen by Western powers after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In the initial version of the US president's plan to end the conflict in Ukraine, published at the end of November, it was proposed to transfer some of these assets to the United States and the Kremlin for various projects.

Even though this plan has been modified several times since then, this initial position shows that the United States seems willing to use these assets as bargaining chips to reach a deal, raising the possibility that Moscow will recoup some of the huge sums involved.

Heads of state and government from the European Union are meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels to decide, among other things, how to finance Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, in the next two years.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is promoting a plan to use frozen Russian assets to give Kiev a 90 billion euro loan over the next two years, but the initiative faces fierce opposition from Belgium, which holds most of the funds.

She fears Russian reprisals or the fact that she will be the only country to pay the price, especially in the case of legal actions.