Brussels to Allocate €1.5 Billion Monthly to Ukraine Starting January 2025

The European Union plans to provide Ukraine with EUR1.5 billion per month starting in January 2025. President of the European Council Antonio Costa stated this at a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky. "This month, the European Union will provide Ukraine with an additional EUR4.2 billion to support Ukraine's budget.

In addition, starting next month, we plan to provide EUR1.5 billion of assistance on a monthly basis throughout the year," he explained. According to the president of the European Council, these funds "come from the proceeds of Russian assets and can also be used for military purposes." Costa also noted that Zelensky is expected in Brussels in two weeks for a meeting of the European Council.

President of the European Council Antonio Costa during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on December 1, 2024. Photo credits: Associated Press/Yevhen Maloletka

In addition, he emphasized that the EU is preparing the 15th package of sanctions against the Putin regime.

Frozen assets

Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Bank of Russia's assets worth about EUR260 billion have been blocked abroad, with more than two-thirds of them frozen in the EU. Euroclear holds about EUR191 billion, and earned about EUR4.4 billion in 2023, the Financial Times reports, citing Euroclear's financial report.

A representative of the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that Ukraine would not be able to receive the entire amount immediately in the event of the confiscation of frozen Russian assets. In July 2024, Ukraine may receive the first tranche of the profit from the blocked assets of the Russian Central Bank if the EU leadership manages to agree on such a step.

In March 2024, it became known that EU leaders had made a "political" decision to use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, but without an action plan. At the same time, according to a joint statement following the first day of the EU summit, they agreed to "continue working" on a plan for their use. However, Hungary blocks the confiscation of Russia's frozen assets in favor of Ukraine.

On May 8, EU ambassadors agreed in principle on measures to use the excess profits from frozen Russian assets to rebuild and arm Ukraine.