EDITOR'S CORNER: Once Again, Europe Hesitates

This week, the European Council held its major summit in Brussels, Belgium. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended in person to discuss Ukraine’s most urgent needs with EU leaders. The meeting resulted in several welcome and largely expected decisions — but one key issue remained unresolved: the proposal to use profits from Russia’s frozen assets to back a new loan for Ukraine.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at what was decided during the summit, why the frozen funds remain such a complicated topic, and what it all means for Ukraine’s future support.

 

 

WHAT WAS AGREED UPON

This section is really easy. All of the members of the EU including Slovakia’s Kremlin-leaning Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungary’s very much Kremlin-friendly Viktor Orbán agreed to these measures. However, Orbán was missing from the meeting for most of the time due to another engagement, which is fairly typical of his approach to EU discussions on Ukraine.

They agreed to introduce the 19th sanctions package on Russia, which specifically targets the Russian "shadow fleet" used to evade oil price caps and sanctions. The members also agreed to limit the purchase of Russian gas, recognizing that while the EU needs to phase out Russian gas by around 2027–2028, it cannot be stopped immediately due to ongoing dependencies in several member states.

The leaders also condemned the support of third countries that enable Russia to continue its war, namely Iran, Belarus, and North Korea. (It’s unclear why China wasn’t mentioned, as Beijing’s indirect support through dual-use exports and trade clearly helps Russia sustain its war effort.)

Naturally, the EU will continue contributing to Ukraine’s defence, providing equipment, training, materiel, ammunition, and other forms of military support. It will also deepen cooperation between European and Ukrainian defence industries to speed up production, investment, and innovation. European countries will keep supporting Ukraine both individually and collectively as a united bloc

The fact that Russia is increasingly bombing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure did not go unnoticed either. The EU reaffirmed that it will continue to support Ukraine’s energy system and winter preparedness, ensuring that Ukrainians do not freeze during the coming winter months.

WHAT ABOUT THE FROZEN ASSETS?

The debate over Russia’s frozen assets was one of the trickier topics at the summit. The EU has around €200 billion of Russian central bank assets locked up inside its financial system, most of it sitting with Euroclear in Belgium. Leaders agreed that the assets themselves will remain frozen until Russia ends its war and pays reparations for the destruction it has caused. But there was growing pressure to at least use the profits from these assets, the so-called "windfall revenues," to support Ukraine right now instead of letting them accumulate while the war continues.

That’s already happening through the G7’s Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative, which has redirected about €14 billion from these profits to Ukraine in 2025. The funds are being used to stabilise Ukraine’s finances, bolster its defences, and rebuild key infrastructure like energy networks hit by Russian strikes. It’s an elegant halfway measure: the EU isn’t confiscating the Russian assets themselves, which would raise thorny legal questions, but it’s ensuring that the money generated by them helps repair the damage Russia is still causing.

Belgium, however, has been notably cautious about how far this policy should go. Because Euroclear is based in Brussels and holds most of the assets, Belgium would carry the legal and reputational risk if anything went wrong. Belgian officials have made it clear they support using the profits, as long as it stays within international law, but they’ve pushed back against any idea of directly seizing the underlying funds. They worry that could set a dangerous precedent and undermine trust in Europe’s financial system. For now, the windfall-profits approach is the legal compromise everyone can live with. 

The European Council has asked the Commission to return with concrete proposals for 2026–2027 and will revisit the issue at its next meeting. However, how far the EU is willing to go in using Russia’s frozen billions remains uncertain. Some member states are urging the bloc to make full use of these assets to support Ukraine, arguing that Europe’s own financial resources are stretched and that Ukraine cannot be left waiting. Others, however, are far more cautious — insisting that any action must be firmly grounded in international law and warning against the financial and legal risks if Russia were ever to demand its assets back. What everyone agrees on is that Moscow is highly unlikely to ever pay reparations voluntarily, leaving the EU to grapple with the question of how to make Russia’s money help fix the destruction it caused.

CONCLUSION

The October summit showed that the EU’s support for Ukraine remains strong, even if the path forward is far from simple. The idea of using Russia’s frozen assets has broad backing in principle, but when it comes to actually doing it, the legal and financial risks are making some leaders tread carefully. It’s one thing to agree that Russia should pay — it’s another to decide exactly how, and without shaking confidence in Europe’s financial system.

Still, the overall message from Brussels was clear: Europe isn’t backing down! The EU will keep supporting Ukraine with money, weapons, and political backing for as long as needed. Sooner or later, Russia will have to face the cost of its war — and whether through frozen profits or direct reparations, that bill is only getting bigger.