PM: Ukraine receives funds from frozen Russian assets as part of EU initiative

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that Ukraine received a tranche worth 3 billion euros ($3.078 billion) from frozen Russian assets. 

"Ukraine’s state budget has received three billion euros from the EU under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration [ERA] initiative. This is the first tranche of funds from the EU, secured through revenues from frozen Russian assets," Caliber.Az reports via Shmyhal’s message on Telegram.

Shmyhal added that these funds will be directed toward priority budget expenditures. In December 2024, the US Department of the Treasury announced its commitment to providing Ukraine with $20 billion in loan assistance, marking its contribution to the initiative.

Although Western nations have frozen $300 billion in Russian assets, they are currently only able to access the annual returns from these funds, which total about $3.2 billion. These earnings will help support the $50 billion loan to Kyiv, while the majority of the frozen assets remain in European countries. 

At the G7 summit in June 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the creation of a mechanism to fully seize the frozen Russian assets, emphasising their potential role in supporting Ukraine's long-term recovery. Reports from October 2024 indicate that the G7 intends to keep these Russian assets frozen even after the war concludes.

By Naila Huseynova