Merz: Ukraine to receive EUR 90 bln loan from EU to be repaid only after Russia pays reparations
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz provided details of the agreement between European Union leaders on financial support for Ukraine for 2026-2027: Ukraine will receive a EUR 90 billion loan, which it will repay only after Russia pays reparations.
He announced this on Friday night at a press conference following the European Council meeting. The discussion of the Ukrainian issue lasted six hours.
"The financial package for Ukraine has been finalized. As I called for, it includes an interest-free loan of EUR 90 billion, and Ukraine will only be required to repay this loan after receiving reparations from Russia. You know that we already made a decision on Friday to block Russian assets until Russia pays reparations. And we discussed this issue for several hours today," he said.
According to the German Chancellor, EU leaders "have prepared to use frozen assets to repay the loan only if Russia fails to pay reparations." "The EU is providing Ukraine with a EUR 90 billion loan. This loan comes from the capital market. And Ukraine will receive it when it needs the funds. Russian sovereign assets have been immobilized. This means they have been seized and will only be returned after an agreement with Russia on reparations for Ukraine is reached. If such an agreement is not reached, these assets will be used, and the Commission will prepare proposals on how this will be done," he detailed.