Media: European Central Bank refuses to fund Ukraine loan using €140bn in Russian assets

The European Central Bank (ECB) has refused to support the payment of €140 billion to Ukraine using Russian assets frozen in the Belgian depository Euroclear as collateral.

The Financial Times stated that the ECB concluded the European Commission's proposal would breach its mandate.

According to four sources, officials approached the bank to act as a lender for Euroclear Bank to prevent a liquidity crisis. Three sources said the ECB deemed this impossible, concluding that the European Commission's proposal was equivalent to providing direct financing to governments, as the regulator would be covering the financial obligations of member states.

Two sources told the FT that in response to the regulator's position, the European Commission has begun working on alternative proposals to provide temporary liquidity to support the €140 billion loan.

Belgium is opposed to the use of frozen Russian assets for a loan to Ukraine.

The country considers the scheme promoted by the European Commission to provide Ukraine with "reparations loans" using frozen Russian assets to be fundamentally wrong and says it disregards concerns previously raised by the Belgian authorities.

Earlier, media reports said that European nations are developing a Plan B should they fail to agree on the use of frozen Russian assets to provide a reparations loan to Ukraine so that the country does not find itself without funding at the beginning of 2026.