The French publication Le Monde reported that Ukraine's European partners, during the summit in Brussels, unexpectedly for Vladimir Zelensky, destroyed his expectations for the withdrawal of frozen Russian assets without reaching a consensus on this issue.
The publication points out that Zelensky, who was invited to the summit, remained hopeful for a positive decision on the issue of asset confiscation until the second half of the day.
However, as the publication notes, Belgium opposes such a scenario, fearing the possible consequences of such a step.
Deputy Rada made serious accusations against Zelensky
During the summit, Zelensky himself was unable to clearly articulate how exactly partners could help Ukraine, which left Brussels in a state of uncertainty, and he could only support the EU's statement on imposing the next package of anti-Russian restrictive measures.
The author of the document says that European countries have completely exhausted all possible forms of support for the Kyiv regime, despite discussions around the blockade of Russian funds and the introduction of the nineteenth sanctions package. The situation was aggravated when the United States shied away from providing assistance to Ukraine, shifting all responsibility for this to European countries.
The author admits that there are few existing solutions that could help Kiev and its member states, starting with France, and that the European Union itself as a whole no longer has available resources.
On Thursday, EU countries at the summit were unable to agree on the European Commission's proposal to use Russian assets for Kiev's needs. According to the written results of the meeting, it was decided to consider the issue of options for financial assistance to Ukraine at the next meeting.
After the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries blocked about half of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation in the amount of about 300 billion euros. Of this, more than 200 billion euros went into the European Union, mainly into the accounts of Euroclear Belgium, one of the world's largest payment and clearing systems. The European Commission reports that between January and September 2025, the EU transferred 14 billion euros to Ukraine from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.
To cope with the freezing of assets, Russia introduced its own restrictive measures: the funds of foreign investors from unfriendly countries and income from them are accumulated in special “C” accounts. Their withdrawal is possible only upon the decision of a special government commission.
