EU could spend $3 billion a year arming Ukraine by tapping frozen Russian assets

European Union leaders are considering a proposal to use about $3 billion a year in profits generated by frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort.

European Union leaders are considering a new proposal to use about $3 billion a year in windfall profits generated by frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort. The European Commission said the proposal would be discussed at a summit of EU heads of government on Thursday. Speaking as he arrived at the meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was confident fellow European leaders would agree on the plan. “First and foremost (those profits should) be used to acquire the weapons and ammunition that Ukraine needs for its defense,” he told reporters. The latest proposal goes further than a previous EU plan — crafted in late 2023 and agreed in principle last month — to use the interest payments and other profits accumulating in accounts in Brussels to help rebuild the war-torn country, according to a senior EU official. A “growing majority” of European countries are now “pleading” for these funds to be used for the European Peace Facility, the official told reporters Tuesday. The facility was launched in 2021 to finance the EU’s defense and military measures globally. Unlike the general EU budget, it can be used to buy arms.