Zelenskyy: EU summit decision should convince Russia to drop war plans

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he hopes that an EU summit decision in Brussels will make Russia see no point in continuing the war into next year. Zelenskyy also called the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels tomorrow "very important".

Source: Zelenskyy in his evening address, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "The outcome of these meetings – Europe's outcome – must be such that Russia feels its desire to keep fighting next year will make no sense because Ukraine will have support. It depends 100% on Europe. It is Europe that must make this choice."

Details: One of the key issues at the summit is expected to be a reparations loan for Ukraine supported by frozen Russian assets. Belgium is continuing to oppose the plan.

The European Commission has proposed using about €180 billion in frozen Russian assets held at the Belgian depository Euroclear. Of that, €140 billion would be transferred to Ukraine, while about €40 billion would be used to repay the loan under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative being provided to Ukraine by G7 countries.

Under the proposal, Ukraine would repay the reparations loan only once it receives reparations from Russia.

Background:

• Media report that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been set to take part in the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday in person.
• Politico has reported earlier that at the latest EU talks at the ambassador level, Belgium said there had been no progress towards a joint decision on using Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
• Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on 16 December that the chances of a decision being adopted or not adopted were equal.

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