Ed Miliband is leading a British push to convince the European Union to use 210 billion euros of frozen Russian assets, about 177 billion pounds, to finance Ukraine's war effort, as the fallout from President Trump's latest row with President Zelensky concentrates minds across the continent.
The Foreign Secretary has spent recent days pressing counterparts in Germany, France and beyond to move on the funds, most of them Russian central bank reserves sitting in the Euroclear depository in Brussels. Britain holds a further 25 billion pounds of frozen Russian assets and has long been prepared to act, but only in step with the EU.
The Trump factor
The diplomatic landscape has shifted sharply in a fortnight. Mr Trump cancelled planned American sanctions on Russia, agreed to buy diesel from President Putin and called for Mr Zelensky to be replaced as president, while Ukraine's access to the Starshield satellite network has been disrupted since last week. Russian strikes have since left more than half a million Ukrainian homes without power as winter approaches.
Government sources believe the rupture has opened space to persuade wavering European leaders that the continent must now carry far more of the financial weight. One Whitehall source said the UK usually gets its voice heard on Ukraine, and that when Britain argues for the frozen assets to be used, that argument is taken seriously.
The Frozen Assets Question at a Glance
- About 210 billion euros of Russian sovereign assets are frozen in the EU, mostly at Euroclear in Brussels.
- The UK holds a further 25 billion pounds and is willing to act alongside the EU.
- Ukraine faces a 70 billion euro funding gap for 2027 on top of existing EU loans.
- Belgium remains opposed, fearing it would carry the legal risk alone.
- Zelensky has proposed an EU controlled treasury body to stop the assets ever being returned to Russia.
Belgium holds out
The obstacles remain familiar. The Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever has led the resistance, arguing that seizing the assets, or using them as collateral for a vast loan, would leave Belgium liable for the legal backlash because the money sits in Brussels. Other member states have so far declined to share that burden. One government source conceded that Belgium's position is unchanged.
There is also alarm at reports that Washington could try to unfreeze the European based assets and place them under American control as part of Mr Trump's own track of diplomacy with Moscow. The German chancellor Friedrich Merz has called the proposal unacceptable, insisting the future of the funds will be decided in Europe.
Zelensky's warning
Mr Miliband, who raised the issue with western ministers at the IMF meetings in Bangkok alongside the Chancellor John Healey, told a conference in Warsaw last week that Europe had big decisions to make, and that every wrong message sent to President Putin set back both Europe's security and the Ukrainian cause.
Mr Zelensky delivered his own blunt warning to the European Council on Friday. If Europe fails to act, he said, Putin will find a way to get his hands on the money and use it to finance his war. The Ukrainian president floated the idea of a separate EU controlled treasury body to guarantee the assets are never unfrozen, pointing to Russian drone sabotage at Leipzig airport as evidence that the threat already reaches deep into Europe.
The European Commission has been tasked with drawing up options to cover Ukraine's 70 billion euro shortfall for 2027, on top of the 45 billion euros already planned under the bloc's 90 billion euro loan for 2026 and 2027. Whether the frozen reserves form part of that proposal is the 210 billion euro question, and for Kyiv, time is as scarce as money.