Reeves urges EU to seize frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's defence

Former UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has urged the European Union to take custody of €210 billion (£175 billion) in frozen Russian sovereign assets to help fund Ukraine's defence, warning that "the time to act is now."

In an article in The Times, Reeves and three other former senior politicians — ex-German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, former French minister for Europe Nathalie Loiseau and former Canadian deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland — said the EU should take custody of the assets, which it immobilised in 2022, so they can be used for Kyiv's defence.

The four wrote that the funds would be enough to finance Ukraine's defence into 2029, and would remove the risk that elections in several EU states next year could interrupt financial support for Kyiv. They said the money would also be available "until after the next US presidential election, at which point Washington may be more supportive than it is today."

The authors said Ukraine faces a €70 billion funding gap next year and, without new funding, its "capacity to sustain its defence will be gravely impaired," which they said would in turn undermine Europe's own security. They argued Moscow has an obligation under international law to pay compensation for its invasion of Ukraine.

A previous attempt to use the funds failed over concerns that legal liability would fall on the Belgian bank holding most of the assets, exposing it to "unacceptable risks." Reeves and her co-authors proposed instead transferring custody of the accounts, and the associated liabilities, to the EU itself, pointing to the precedent of Iraqi assets being moved to the US Federal Reserve after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The intervention comes as Ukraine faces pressure from US President Donald Trump to reach a deal with Moscow, after he struck a diesel deal with Russia and declined to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting the war, the authors noted.