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US senators push Trump administration to seize Russian assets for Ukraine, Reuters reports

3 min read
US senators push Trump administration to seize Russian assets for Ukraine, Reuters reports
An elderly woman walks past an apartment building destroyed by a Russian drone strike, which local authorities consider to be Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Shahed-136, in central Kyiv. (Oleksii Chumachenko / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is urging the Trump administration to transfer more than $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine instead of limiting assistance to interest earned on those funds.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio seen by Reuters on March 24, senators questioned the administration’s willingness to use all available financial tools to pressure Russia into ending its war against Ukraine.

"How does the Administration view using all financial tools at its disposal to increase pressure on Russia to end the war?" the senators reportedly wrote in the letter. They also asked whether U.S. and EU-held Russian assets should be leveraged in negotiations with Moscow.

Senators Todd Young and Lindsey Graham signed the letter, marking a rare instance of senior Republicans publicly urging a tougher stance on Russia. Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Tim Kaine signed it as well.

Pro-Ukraine Republicans in Congress have largely remained silent as Trump shifts U.S. policy closer to Moscow. The State Department has not yet responded to the senators' request.

Their letter, sent on March 21, coincided with U.S.-Russia negotiations in Saudi Arabia, where officials discussed a potential Black Sea maritime ceasefire as a precursor to broader peace talks.

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For years, U.S. lawmakers have pushed to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction rather than rely on American taxpayer dollars.

In the letter, the senators pressed the administration on whether it plans to encourage the EU, G7, and other allies to use Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine’s benefit. They also inquired about allowing Ukraine to purchase defense equipment using these assets.

Following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies froze an estimated $300-350 billion in Russian sovereign assets, primarily held in European financial institutions.

Washington has refrained from fully seizing the assets due to legal concerns, instead opting to use interest earnings to provide aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow has condemned any potential asset transfer as theft but has reportedly signaled a willingness to use frozen European funds for reconstruction—provided some of the money benefits the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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