EU agrees on 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine

2025-12-19 19:27:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The European Union will give Ukraine an interest-free loan worth 90 billion euros to help finance the war-torn country, after failing to reach an agreement on a proposal aimed at using frozen Russian assets to support Kiev's economic and military needs in the coming years.

EU Council President Antonio Costa wrote in 'X' that the funds will be for 2026 and 2027.

"We promised and we delivered," he said.

EU officials began their meeting on December 18 with the aim of reaching an agreement on the financing issue. The talks focused on a proposal that would see tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets used to cover Ukraine's financial needs.

However, legal concerns prevented some of the bloc's member states from accepting the proposal. Instead, a loan agreement was reached, which is based on borrowing on capital markets and backed by the "EU budgetary reserve," a term commonly used to describe additional borrowing capacity.

"After lengthy discussions, it is clear that reparations loans will require more work, as leaders need more time to work out the details," an EU official told Radio Free Europe.

Funding for Ukraine has become a major issue for the 27-member bloc, with the United States limiting its financial support and countries like Hungary pushing for funding cuts.

On the other hand, Poland compared the situation to a choice between "money today or blood tomorrow."

The EU summit came after Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized the bloc's leaders, using a term that can be translated as "piggy bank." He repeated claims that Moscow will use force to achieve its goals in the war in Ukraine if a U.S. peace initiative fails to produce a deal that meets Russia's demands.

Putin is expected to hold his annual press conference later on December 19, where he is likely to discuss the asset proposal. Russia has threatened broad legal action for any use of its frozen assets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the summit, telling leaders that the proposal for a loan backed by frozen Russian assets currently held in the EU was preferable, but that ultimately it did not matter how the funds were used, as long as a solution was found.

"If in the spring Ukraine does not receive the appropriate funding - which in the event of peace would be used for the reconstruction of the country and in the event of the continuation of the war for other priorities, first of all for the construction of drones - the production of drones in Ukraine will decrease significantly," he told reporters during a conference call after attending the summit.

Western countries have supported war-torn Ukraine with direct budgetary support and military aid since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the neighboring country nearly four years ago. But the coming period may be different.

The US has signaled that it will likely not send money, leaving the burden on the EU and other G7 countries to intensify efforts and do so as soon as possible./rel