German Ambassador, Finance Minister discuss use of frozen Russian assets as guarantees for EUR 140 bln in interest-free loans

Newly appointed German Ambassador to Ukraine Heiko Thoms and Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko discussed plans for using frozen Russian assets and financial support for Ukraine from Germany.
"Ambassador Thoms discussed German-Ukrainian cooperation and Germany's financial support for Ukraine with Minister Serhiy Marchenko. They also discussed plans to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for interest-free loans worth EUR 140 billion. Germany supports these plans," the German Embassy wrote on X.
Earlier, in an article for The Financial Times, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the European Union to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine by providing Kyiv with a EUR 140 billion loan.
According to Merz, the loan should finance military equipment. EU governments should make purchasing decisions together with Kyiv.