Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has declared that a plan by the European Union to financially support Ukraine using frozen Russian assets is a "dead end," as EU leaders met in Brussels on Thursday to finalize a funding strategy for Kyiv's war effort and reconstruction.
Orbán, a longtime skeptical voice on EU support measures, told reporters ahead of the European Council summit that negotiations over seizing or repurposing Russian state assets have "stalled" and lack sufficient support among member states to be viable. "The whole idea of using Russian assets to support Ukraine," the Hungarian leader said, "is a dead end."
The frozen assets in question consist of roughly €210 billion in Russian central bank reserves immobilized by the EU after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. These funds, held mostly at Belgium's Euroclear clearing house, were originally sanctioned to restrict Moscow's access to international markets. EU policymakers are debating whether to use the assets' profits or the assets themselves as collateral to back a major loan package for Ukraine covering 2026–2027 financial needs.
However, Orbán rejected the premise of the EU further "engaging" in the conflict. "I don't want the European Union to engage in war; to give money means war," he said, framing the proposal not as financial assistance but as de facto combat involvement.
The U.S., under the Trump administration, has a decidedly more complicated stance on the use of the assets. According to senior Ukrainian and Western officials, Washington has quietly pressured several European governments to abandon the idea of using Russian sovereign funds as direct collateral for a Ukraine loan, warning that such a move could prolong the war and expose European financial systems to legal and political risk.
An anonymous senior Ukrainian official told the AFP that, "The US administration is pressuring European countries to abandon the idea of using Russian assets to support Ukraine," but that the EU was "quietly asking us to intervene on this matter as they do not want to be publicly against it. "They are afraid of the long-term damage it will do to long-term investments in their system and the credibility of their institutions."
A thorough exposé by the Wall Street Journal revealed that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were negotiating with Russian officials to use the assets to give to American businesses as well as for a separate, U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said, "Both the Ukrainians and the Russians have clearly stated positions regarding the frozen assets, and our only role is to facilitate a back-and-forth that can ultimately result in a deal."
Other leaders within the EU remain divided on the plan. Belgium, which hosts Euroclear, has expressed concern about potential legal retaliation from Russia if assets were reallocated without full sovereign consent. Brussels has demanded ironclad guarantees that Belgium will not bear disproportionate liability if Moscow pursues lawsuits or financial countermeasures.
Other EU leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, have voiced support for finding a compromise that keeps Ukraine funded without undermining legal norms or financial stability. Lagarde told reporters that EU leaders remain confident a solution would emerge that adheres to international legal standards protecting sovereign assets, even if the path forward proves "complex and slow."
At the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that failure to secure financial support could weaken Ukraine's military capabilities and hamper production of key defense equipment, including drones, potentially forcing cuts in early 2026. Zelenskyy and supporters of the asset plan argue that using frozen Russian funds to support Ukraine's defense is ethically justified given the scale of destruction caused by Moscow's invasion.
