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“There’s no alternative, they said. Apparantly, there is.”
During the night between Thursday and Friday European Time, the President of the EU, António Costa, announced on X that the European countries had agreed on a loan package for Ukraine of 90 billion euros.
Friday morning, Costa confirmed the agreement, telling repporters at a news conference, that “as a matter of urgency, we will provide a loan backed by the European Union budget,” according to Reuters.
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According to the Danish news outlet, TV2, three countries (Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia) has been allowed to not be a part of the loan. As a quit pro quo, the three nations referred from blocking the decision.
A grateful Zelenskyy
On X, the Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, praised the European nations for lending Ukraine the billions of euros.
“This is significant support that truly strengthens our resilience,” he wrote.
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Russian assets remain frozen
Ahead of the negotiations, the big question was if the money should come from the frozen Russian assets, assessed to be worth 210 billion euros.
This did not end up being the solution, as the European nations instead agreed on lending the money themselves and then lending the money to Ukraine without interests.
The deal is that Ukraine will repay the money, when (or if) the country ever gets any war reparations from Russia. This seems highly unlikely, and therefore, the loan is basically a gift from the EU to Ukraine.
“Fatal blow to Ursula”
The Russians are framing the new deal as a huge loss for the EU.
CEO of the Russian Investment Fund (RDIF) wrote on X, that the deal was a “fatal blow to Ursula, Merz, Starmer & the warmongers.”
“The whole world just watched you fail to bully others into breaking the law,” he added.
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Sources: Reuters, TV2, X
