Ukraine asks EU to use frozen Russian assets to cover $78 billion 2027 financing gap
Ukraine's Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told a donor meeting in Brussels on 29 September that Ukraine needs roughly $78 billion (about €69 billion) in additional financing for 2027 and called on the European Union to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to cover the gap. EU officials and several member states received the request skeptically, with Belgium opposed to any new use of the assets and the European Commission insisting that the priority is disbursing the already agreed €90 billion loan, whose budget tranche is held up pending Ukrainian reforms.
Key points
- Ukraine estimates it needs about $78 billion (≈€68.77 billion) for 2027: $32.6 billion in budget needs and $45 billion in defense needs.
- Marchenko framed the same 2027 ask as €40 billion for military spending and €29 billion for state functions, roughly €69 billion.
- The EU holds about €210 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets, with most (≈€180 billion) at Belgium's Euroclear depository.
- Brussels agreed a €90 billion joint loan for 2026–2027 (€45 billion per year, €30 billion/year for defense, €15 billion/year for the budget); €15 billion for weapons has been disbursed but the €15 billion budget tranche is pending reforms.
- Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, backed by the Baltic states and 123 MEPs, are calling for new ways to use the frozen Russian assets; Belgium opposes the step.
- A Belgian-led majority blocked a Commission proposal in December 2024 to use the assets as the basis for an interest-free credit line.
- EU finance ministers are expected to discuss the request on 9 October or at the European Council in mid-October.
Why it matters
Ukraine is asking the EU to back a multi-tens-of-billions financing shortfall at a moment when existing EU support is already being held up by slow reform progress in the Verkhovna Rada. Brussels is being pushed to revisit confiscation or new mechanisms for roughly €210 billion of frozen Russian assets held mostly at Euroclear in Belgium, a step Belgium opposes and that previously failed in December 2024. With the United States reported to have provided no financial assistance to Kyiv since early 2025 and major national elections due in France, Spain, Poland and Italy in 2027, the political ground for new European commitments is narrow and uncertain.
What happened
On 29 September, representatives of the EU, G7 countries, Norway, South Korea and the IMF met with a Ukrainian delegation in Brussels to assess Ukraine's financial needs. Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko presented Ukraine's 2027 requirements: about €69 billion in additional funding, comprising roughly €40 billion for the military and €29 billion for state functions. In a separate breakdown the Finance Ministry put the cumulative gap at about $78 billion (≈€68.77 billion), made up of $32.6 billion in uncovered budget needs and $45 billion in defense spending with no guaranteed partner financing. The figures already factor in bilateral aid and the EU's joint €90 billion loan, which itself is split equally between 2026 and 2027 (€30 billion per year for defense, €15 billion per year for the budget). Of that loan, €15 billion has been disbursed for weapons, but the €15 billion budget tranche is held up pending reforms including anti-corruption measures. Marchenko used the meeting — and a parallel discussion at the European Policy Centre — to argue that the roughly €210 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets, most of them at the Belgian depository Euroclear, offer a practical and fair way to finance Ukraine's wartime expenditures and hold Moscow accountable. He acknowledged the issue is politically complex and called for a centralized EU mechanism with proper legal grounding. EU officials responded coolly, pointing to the need to complete the agreed €90 billion disbursement and to deliver on reforms, and a European diplomat was quoted in Brussels as saying, "It feels like we are watering the desert." The request will be taken up at the EU finance ministers' meeting on 9 October or at the European Council in mid-October.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian coverage leads with the scale of the ask — a $78 billion / €70 billion 2027 financing need — and with Marchenko's argument in Brussels and at the European Policy Centre that the frozen Russian assets are a "practical and fair" way to close it while holding Moscow accountable. Reporting highlights supportive voices in the EU, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, the Baltic states, and 123 MEPs who in September called for renewed discussion of the assets, and points to Hugh Dixon's "Russian Transfer" initiative as evidence of political momentum. Ukrainian outlets frame the problem as a financing gap the EU must solve, and attribute the growing need to intensified Russian strikes on the economy and to the 60% drop in agricultural exports caused by the Black Sea grain blockade.
How international sources describe it
International reporting, led by Le Monde, stresses EU skepticism: a diplomat's "watering the desert" quip, the European Commission's reluctance to reopen the asset-use question while disbursement of the €90 billion loan is incomplete, and the political sensitivity created by 2027 elections in France, Spain, Poland and Italy. Coverage centers opposition from Belgium, which cites legal risks around Euroclear, and skepticism from Italy and France, whose positions could be decisive, and repeats European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos's message that Ukraine must implement agreed reforms. It also lays out the alternative financing avenues under discussion — the €6.6 billion European Peace Fund (now unblocked after Viktor Orbán's April election loss), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to repurpose roughly €20 billion of unallocated funds from the €150 billion EU rearmament loan, and the €100 billion Ukraine line in the 2028–2034 EU budget — while noting that Germany, other "frugal" member states, and Berlin and Paris resist some of them.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on the composition of the 2027 gap: the Ukrainian Finance Ministry's figures, as reported by Euronews and Le Monde, frame it as $32.6 billion in budget needs plus $45 billion in defense needs, totaling about $78 billion (≈€68.77 billion), while Marchenko's Brussels presentation framed the same 2027 ask as €40 billion for military spending and €29 billion for state services, totaling about €69 billion. Sources also differ on the share of frozen Russian assets at Euroclear: most cite roughly €210 billion in frozen Russian state assets in Europe, some specify about €180 billion of that at Euroclear, and a September European Parliament appeal referred to "over €200 billion."
Background
Russian Central Bank assets have been frozen in the EU since February 2022, with most held at the Belgian depository Euroclear; they have generated around €8 billion in extraordinary profits, of which another €1.4 billion was reported in August. In December 2024 a Belgian-led majority at an EU summit blocked a European Commission proposal to use the assets as the basis for an interest-free credit line for Ukraine, and the EU instead agreed a €90 billion loan secured by common debt, split equally between 2026 and 2027. By mid-September Brussels had disbursed €15 billion of that loan for weapons, but the €15 billion budget tranche is held up pending Ukrainian reforms, including anti-corruption measures. Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, backed by the Baltic states, had already warned that the €90 billion loan would be insufficient, and in September 123 members of the European Parliament called on the EU Council and Commission to resume discussion of using the frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. The United States has reportedly provided no financial assistance to Kyiv since Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025.