EU summit looks to use Russia assets to support Ukraine

(BRUSSELS) – EU leaders at a two-day summit agreed to make possible the use the windfall profits from Russia’s immobilised assets to support of Ukraine, including with military equipment.

At the summit, leaders re-stated their steadfast support for Ukraine, stressing that Russia must not prevail. “Given the urgency of the situation, the EU is determined to continue to provide Ukraine and its people with all of the necessary political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed,” the leaders said in a statement.

The summit reiterated Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence, and acknowledged its urgent need for air defence systems, ammunition and missiles.

In this context, the leaders stressed that the EU and its member states should accelerate and intensify delivery of all of necessary military assistance, including the procurement of ammunition for Ukraine, which will enable the provision of one million rounds of artillery ammunition. In this regard, they welcomed the the Czech Republic’s initiative to buy ammunition from non-EU countries.

The leaders called on the Council to work on the 8th support package for Ukraine under the European Peace Facility. They also reviewed progress on the next steps towards chanelling extraordinary revenues from Russia’s frozen assets to benefit Ukraine, including the possibility of funding military support.

EU leaders welcomed the adoption of the 13th package of sanctions and stressed that their full and effective implementation is essential, as is closing all loopholes inside and outside the EU. In this regard, the leaders called on the Council and the Commission to improve information exchanges and enhance action with third countries. This includes preventing the circumvention of the sanctions through third countries and ensuring their enforcement, including for subsidiaries of EU companies abroad.

In the statement, leraders stressed that Russia’s access to sensitive items and technologies with battlefield relevance must continue to be restricted as far as possible, including by targeting entities in third countries that are enabling this illicit trade. In this regard, the leaders called on the High Representative and the Commission to prepare further sanctions against Belarus, North Korea and Iran. They also called on third parties to immediately cease providing material support for Russia’s war and stated that reports on Iran’s possible transfer of ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia, after having supplied the Russian regime with unmanned aerial vehicles, was very concerning.

European Council conclusions on Ukraine, security and defence, Middle East, enlargement and reforms, migration, preparedness and crisis response, and European Semester