Moscow has repeatedly described any unauthorized use of its immobilized funds as “theft”
The European Commission has announced a new financial aid package for the cash-strapped Ukrainian government using the revenue generated by frozen Russian assets. The sum amounting to €1.4 billion ($1.63 billion) would largely be spent on covering Kiev’s debts to its Western backers, the statement said.
Ukraine’s Western supporters froze roughly $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets after the escalation of the conflict in 2022. The majority is held at the Belgian-based Euroclear depository. In late 2023, the EU decided it could tap the annual revenues generated by these assets by declaring them “windfall profits” that supposedly do not count as part of the foreign sovereign assets it could not legally confiscate.
Moscow has repeatedly said that it considers any use of its frozen assets as theft. It also warned it could retaliate by seizing €200 billion in Western assets held in Russia but has so far refrained from doing so.
The April package is the fourth tranche using the interest from the frozen Russian funds, according to the Commission’s statement. The previous one was delivered in August 2025. According to Brussels, “95% of the proceeds will be used to support Ukraine via the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism (ULCM),” which was developed to assist Kiev in repaying loans from the EU, as well as G7 nations.
The announcement comes as Ukraine faces a massive budget shortfall, with a projected deficit of around $53 billion for 2025-2028 and a forecasted 18.4% deficit in the 2026 budget. El Pais reported in October 2025 that the Ukrainian government could run out of money as early as this month.
In December, the Bank of Russia filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in a Moscow court seeking $232 billion in compensation for frozen assets and lost profits.
The regulator additionally announced that it could expand its lawsuit over frozen assets beyond the Belgian-based depository to include European banks that also hold its funds.
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