Politico learned of a split in the EU over a new €140 billion loan to Ukraine.

European countries have still not agreed on the terms of a €140 billion loan to Kyiv to cover the Ukrainian budget deficit and purchase weapons, Politico reports. As the publication notes, France , Italy , and Germany insist that Kyiv use the loan to purchase weapons from European, not American, contractors.

The idea was first put forward by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in an article for the Financial Times in September 2025. He said it would strengthen and expand the European defense industry.

The Netherlands, the Nordic countries, and the Baltic states oppose this proposal. They believe Kyiv should have complete freedom to act according to its needs. Furthermore, the obligation to purchase exclusively European weapons would deprive the Ukrainian Armed Forces of access to weapons systems such as the Patriot air defense system, which is manufactured  in the United States .

As Politico writes, disagreements on this issue arose during a recent dinner of defense ministers from the European Union ( EU ).

On Thursday, October 23, in Brussels, EU leaders intend to instruct the European Commission to present a legal justification for the loan under discussion, which is to be financed by frozen Russian assets.

Following the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the European Union and the G7 countries froze approximately €300 billion in Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves. Over €200 billion of this amount is held in accounts at Euroclear, one of the world's largest clearing and settlement systems, in Belgium. From January to September 2025, the EU transferred a portion of the proceeds from the frozen assets to Kyiv—approximately €14 billion.

In response to the freeze, Moscow transferred the assets of foreign investors from unfriendly countries and the income from them to special type "C" accounts, from which they can be withdrawn only by decision of a special government commission.

In September 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed providing Kyiv with a new loan to cover frozen assets. The condition for Ukraine's repayment, she said, would be Moscow's agreement to pay "reparations" to restore the devastated Ukrainian economy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin have repeatedly called the asset freeze theft. The HEAD of the foreign policy departmentSergei Lavrov warned that Moscow would respond to their confiscation by confiscating foreign businesses.

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