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The EU has indefinitely frozen €210bn of Russian sovereigns held in Brec on Friday as Kyiv and its European allies sought to strengthen their hand in a critical discussion.
The freeze paves the way for a loan to be raised against assets to build Ukraine’s defense. EU leaders still have to overcome strong objections from Belgium, where most of the assets are held, at a summit next week.
Moscow fired back, filing a lawsuit against Euroclear, the Brussels-based depository that holds most of the assets, which could allow Russia to seize the company’s assets held in the country.
The moves came as the Trump administration stepped up pressure on Kyiv to sign a peace deal with Russia through largely unfavorable terms that Washington and Moscow had previously negotiated.
European leaders have shut down Ukraine as they seek to avoid forcing many Ukrainians and Europeans to consider secession.
President Voltodymr Zelenskyy is due to travel to Berlin on Monday to meet German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other European leaders. Zelenskyy said they will discuss the security guarantees that the European chapters will provide to Ukraine as part of a peace settlement.
Ukrainian negotiators, supported by European officials, are seeking to improve the terms of the broken US peace proposal, which is also considered unthinkable concessions.
A revised peace proposal obtained by Ukrainian and European officials and sent to Washington this week to join the UPA in the EU as soon as 2027, an accelerated timetable for fixing the bloc’s access procedure will cut the established bloc’s access procedure
Intensive diplomacy was set up to establish “common ground” between the Ukrainians, Europeans and Americans in a new version of the Agreement that could be presented to Russia.
Yuri Ushakov, the foreign adviser to President Vladimir Putin, said: “If we see this, I feel that we will not like it.”
While the EU is making moves on Russian assets, Zelenskyy made a surprise visit on Friday to the City of Kupiansk, in Eastern Ukraine, which Moscow claimed had been seized weeks ago. The Ukrainian army pushed the Russian forces, Zelenskyy said, claiming that its resistance would strengthen Ukraine’s hand.
“This is exactly how it works: all of our strong positions domestically will be strong positions in negotiations about ending the war,” he said.
However, Russian forces continue to advance along other axes along the 1,200km frontline, piling pressure on Ukraine’s battered wasteland.
European officials remain skeptical that Russia will agree to anything short of its maximalist goals, which include the subjugation of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine discussed with US officials the details of “free economy” or “demilitarized” in Donetsk surrender, that Moscow started Ukraine to surrender as the price of any agreement in any agreement in any agreement in any agreement in any agreement in any agreement in any agreement. He reigned in the surrender of the territory, but it was suggested that the Ukrainian forces could pull out of the contact line in the area if the Russian forces began to provide security guarantees.
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Zelenskyy “has shown for the last nine months his willingness to create the conditions for a peace deal that is both fair and lasting, which is not a capitulation. It is now up to Vladimir Putin to take the last step and put an end to this imperialist and colonial war.”