Ukraine will receive the first payment of 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from the profits of Russian assets frozen in the EU "before the summer break," EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on June 21.
The following is the June 19, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. The Group of Seven (G7) leaders confirmed on June 13 a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50
The new Group of Seven (G7) plan to fund Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets is a “breakthrough,” but Ukraine’s goal is still to seize the full worth of the assets, said experts speaking at a panel event in Kyiv discussing Russian asset seizure on June 17. “This
If Ukraine is going to defeat Russia and rebuild itself after the war, it will need huge sums of money, probably exceeding what Western electorates and politicians are willing or able to provide. The good news is that there is a massive pot of non-Western money already available: the $300
The loan should be repaid using interest from some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets.
"We need to make the states that support terror understand that they will pay for it," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 13 during a G7 summit in Italy.
"We have an agreement," a French presidency official said, ahead of a summit in Italy, which starts on June 13.
A final agreement on the issue is expected at a G7 summit in Apulia, Italy, on June 13-15, which President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend.
Ukraine will receive 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in Russian frozen assets revenue in July and 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) under the Ukraine Facility already this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on June 11.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on June 9 that he had reached an agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron on using the profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported.
According to AFP, the U.S. is pushing the G7 to endorse a loan for Ukraine of up to $50 billion, secured by interest on the frozen assets.
The U.S. has proposed that a $50 billion loan to Ukraine could be repaid by profits from frozen Russian assets, on the condition that the EU agrees to extend sanctions against Russia until the end of the war, the Financial Times reported on June 5, citing a leaked EU discussion paper.
Estonia’s parliament enacted a law on May 15 enabling the use of frozen Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for the damages caused by Russia’s war. Kyiv and its Western allies have discussed using around $300 billion in Russian assets held in Western accounts to support Ukraine. As of
President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the upcoming G7 summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on June 2, according to the Italian news outlet ANSA.
The legal framework within which the funds will be transferred is still in progress, according to David O'Sullivan. The EU sanctions envoy hopes that the decision will be made in "a few weeks."
"Although the chosen method of compensation is innovative, it aims to protect the prohibition of aggression as a fundamental rule of international law," Alar Karis said in a statement.
Hungary is holding up legislation that would allow the European Union to send billions of dollars in profits from frozen Russian assets for Ukrainian aid, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Ukraine's Western partners and other allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Roughly two-thirds are held in the Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear.
The decree would enable Russian citizens, companies, and the central bank to appeal to courts that the seizure of their assets is unjustified. In turn, the Russian government could offer U.S. assets in Russia as compensation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to revive the Soviet Union, but two can play this game. To complete the Kremlin’s grotesque historical reenactment, the West should launch a new economic Cold War in response. In addition to the war of aggression waged against the civilians and cities of
The European Commission said that the "resources will be available to support Ukraine starting from July 2024, with bi-annual payments."
"Up to 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion) (could be raised) only this year, 90% goes for Ukraine's military. Russia must pay for its war damages," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.
Washington's proposal envisions borrowing against future profits from the frozen assets and transferring the money to Kyiv upfront from a Group of Seven (G7) loan.
The G7 finance ministers are set to meet on May 24, where they will work out the details to come to a final decision before a summit in Italy in June.
"We're one step closer to setting a historic precedent in Europe," said Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
"If we are talking about the needs of Ukraine and the needs of the war, military and non-military, 3 billion euros is actually almost nothing— we need hundreds of billions in order to win the war," Justice Minister Denys Maliuska told Politico at the G7 justice ministers' meeting in Venice on May 9.
Increasingly cut off from western banking and financial services, Russia's wealthiest individuals are facing a dilemma when it comes to handing their fortunes to the next generation, according to Bloomberg. Most of the billionaires who were sanctioned have opted to move assets home, the news agency reported.
EU ambassadors agreed in principle on a measure using profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's recovery and military needs, the Belgian Presidency of the EU said on May 8.
The following is the May 7, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. Ukraine’s Central Bank eased some wartime foreign exchange restrictions on businesses in what it said was the
New U.S.-supplied weapons and money are now on their way to Ukraine. Whether to provide additional military aid was a matter of debate for many months in the U.S. Congress. In the end, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson stared down the most right-wing elements
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians (REPO) Act on April 24. Largely overshadowed in the media by the groundbreaking approval of $61 billion in aid for Ukraine that same day, the REPO Act is equally crucial. However, the REPO Act has not
The United States is leading talks among the Group of Seven (G7) nations to develop a military aid package to Ukraine worth up to $50 billion, Bloomberg reported on May 3. The package would reportedly be funded by the profits generated by accrued interest on frozen Russian assets.
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