EU leaders significantly watered down language in their summit conclusions on the €140 billion reparation loan for Ukraine as sticking points over legal ramifications remain.
Instead, they said they would "revert to this issue at its next meeting" in December, stressing that "Russia's assets should remain immobilised until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused by its war".
While hailing the decision by the EU and US to slap new sanctions on Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for EU leaders to reach an agreement on the loan as soon as possible. "It is a political decision," he told reporters in Brussels.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, whose domestic jurisdiction hosts the bulk of the assets, told reporters that there had been little "enthusiasm" around the leaders' table when asked if they would be willing to provide liquidity guarantees.
"It was not an overwhelming number of people who said they’d be willing," he explained.
