The EU has agreed to provide a massive €90bn interest-free loan to Ukraine, after talks in Brussels went deep into the night before finally achieving a breakthrough.
EU Council president Antonio Costa said the loan would meet the war-hit nation’s military and economic needs for the next two years.
European leaders did not immediately explain how the loan would be funded but said Ukraine would not have to pay the money back until Russia pays it reparations for the damage caused by Vladimir Putin's invasion.
And they reserved the right to use £185bn in frozen Russian assets to cover the loan if Moscow refuses to pay those reparations after the war.
Negotiators worked late into the night to reassure Belgium that they would provide guarantees to protect it from Russian retaliation if it backed the loan for Ukraine. Most of Russia's frozen assets are held in Brussels.
Putin lashed out at European leaders on the eve of the funding summit, calling them "little pigs", while Russia has called any attempt to use its frozen assets as "theft".
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Key Points
- EU leaders agree on €90bn loan to Ukraine
- Tusk says Europe must choose between 'money today or bloody tomorrow' over frozen Russian assets
- Putin's spymaster spoke with new MI6 chief over phone, Tass reports
- Orban says Russian frozen asset loan is 'dead' and won't pass
- EU faces crunch decision at high-stakes Brussels summit today
- Three people killed in Ukrainian drone attacks overnight
Zelensky says he understands Belgium's concerns about using Russian assets
04:23 , Arpan RaiVolodymyr Zelensky said he understand Belgium’s concerns on using frozen Russian assets after a conversation with the country’s prime minister Bart De Wever.
“Together with Prime Minister of Belgium @Bart_DeWever, we discussed mechanisms for using frozen Russian assets. I understand all of Belgium’s concerns; however, a decision on the reparations loan must be made. It is fair and will ensure long-term predictability for Ukraine,” he said on X.
“We also discussed coordination in diplomacy between Europe and the United States for the sake of peace, Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union, support for Ukraine’s energy system, and reconstruction,” Zelensky said.
Together with Prime Minister of Belgium @Bart_DeWever, we discussed mechanisms for using frozen Russian assets. I understand all of Belgium’s concerns; however, a decision on the reparations loan must be made. It is fair and will ensure long-term predictability for Ukraine.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 18, 2025
We… pic.twitter.com/fCIQa50k9Z
EU has avoided chaos and division with agreement on Ukraine funding, Belgium says
03:49 , Arpan RaiEU leaders have avoided "chaos and division" with their decision to provide Ukraine with a loan through borrowing cash rather than use frozen Russian assets, Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever said in the early hours today.
"We remained united," De Wever said after EU leaders had discussed for hours how to provide Ukraine with the money it needs to sustain its fight against Russia's invasion.
Some €210bn (£183bn) worth of Russian assets are frozen in Europe, most of them in the Belgian financial clearing house Euroclear. Belgium had objected to the loan plan, calling it legally risky and warning that it could harm Euroclear's business.
Belgium was rattled last week when Russia's Central Bank launched a lawsuit against Euroclear to prevent any loan being provided to Ukraine with frozen Russian funds.
Germany's Merz hails zero-interest loan for Ukraine
03:43 , Arpan RaiGerman chancellor Friedrich Merz has hailed the deal reached by European leaders working late into Thursday night in Brussels.
“The financial package for Ukraine has been finalised," Merz said in a statement, noting that "Ukraine is granted a zero-interest loan”.
“These funds are sufficient to cover the military and budgetary needs of Ukraine for the two years to come," Merz added.
He said the frozen assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid war reparations to Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that would cost over €600bn (£525bn).
“If Russia does not pay reparations we will — in full accordance with international law — make use of Russian immobilised assets for paying back the loan," Merz said.
Macron says EU leaders delivered what they committed for Ukraine
03:22 , Arpan RaiFrench president Emmanuel Macron described the deal agreed between the EU leaders as a major advance, saying this option "was the most realistic and practical way" to fund Ukraine and its war efforts.
Calling the gathering a “very good summit for Ukraine”, Macron said the European leaders delivered what they committed to do for Ukraine.
He added that the deal included a mechanism to protect three countries — Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — from any financial fallout.
EU leaders agree on €90bn loan to Ukraine
03:01 , Arpan RaiEuropean Union leaders have agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, EU Council president Antonio Costa said.
“We have a deal. Decision to provide €90bn ($106bn) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” Costa said in a post on social media, without providing details about how the money would be raised.
The EU leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reassure Belgium that they would provide guarantees to protect it from Russian retaliation if it backed the loan for Ukraine.
EU imposes sanctions on 41 ships in Russia's shadow fleet
03:00 , Alex CroftThe European Union imposed sanctions on 41 more ships in Russia's shadow fleet, taking the total of designated vessels to almost 600.
The ships are now banned from entering EU ports and can no longer receive a broad range of services related to maritime transport, the EU Council said.
The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia so far, but Moscow has managed to adapt to most measures and is still selling millions of barrels of oil to India and China, albeit at discounts to global prices.
Much of this is shipped using a so-called shadow fleet of vessels operating outside of the Western maritime industry.
The EU on Monday already adopted sanctions targeting Russia oil traders Murtaza Lakhani and Etibar Eyyub for enabling Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on crude exports that help to fund Russia's war in Ukraine.
Kyiv delegation heading to US for peace talks on Friday and Saturday - Zelensky
02:00 , Alex CroftUkrainian peace negotiators are en route to the United States and plan to meet the US negotiating team on Friday and Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
The Ukrainian president told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat that there were no final aligned peace proposals for now, reiterating his plea to partners to strengthen Ukraine in case Russia refuses to stop its war.
Moscow also said on Thursday that Russia was preparing for contacts with the United States to get details about US talks with European powers and Ukraine on a possible peace settlement to end the Ukraine conflict.
Zelensky: We must not let Russian assets be used against us
01:03 , Alex CroftVolodymyr Zelensky has now warned that frozen Russian assets must not be allowed to be used by Moscow to its political advantage.
“Money is needed so that Russia and anybody else doesn’t use these Russian assets as a leverage against us,” he said.
He adds that it is vital to stop these assets being used as a part of Russia’s negotiation tactics, such as by offering access to the US.
Zelensky also spoke on the importance of security guarantees.
“I believe that the end of the war in general is connected with security guarantees, because without security guarantees it doesn’t mean there will be an end.”
Russia “will come” again without guarantees that “speak to everybody”, including Ukrainian people who want to return, investors, tourists, and so on.
Watch: Trump says special envoy 'knew nothing' about Russia before appointment
00:00 , Alex CroftRussia forms military brigade equipped with hypersonic missile
Thursday 18 December 2025 23:02 , Alex CroftRussia has formed a military brigade which is equipped with its new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov said according to state news agency Tass.
Russia fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine for the first time in November 2024. President Vladimir Putin has boasted that it is impossible to intercept and has destructive power comparable to that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.
Some Western experts have said those claims are exaggerated.
War will not end if Ukraine runs out of funding, says military analyst
Thursday 18 December 2025 22:01 , Alex CroftThe war will not end immediately if Ukraine finally runs out of funding, a leading military expert has said.
The crunch vote in Brussels on funding Ukraine is set to determine whether Ukraine will secure two-thirds of its funding needs through 2026 and 2027.
“Ukraine relies on economic assistance as well as military assistance in order to continue to function as a state,” said Chatham House analyst Keir Giles, who is an expert on the Russian military.
“But it would be misleading to think that as soon as the as soon as Ukraine goes into the red, the war will end. For Ukraine, just as for Russia, there is no direct and immediate linkage between economic crisis and inability to continue fighting.
“In both cases, it would just make it very much harder and would speed up defeat. But it is not an immediate result.
“So if the European leaders once again fail to meet the challenge at today's talks, there are still options for ensuring that their front line of defense in Ukraine continues to hold through other means of redirecting finance, in order to ensure that Ukrainian society and the economy can continue to function, and in order to continue to defend Europe.”
Nato on alert after Russian border guards ‘illegally cross border into Estonia’ on hovercraft
Thursday 18 December 2025 21:00 , Alex CroftEstonia has accused three Russian border guards of illegally crossing into Nato territory on a hovercraft without permission.
The country’s interior minister Igor Taro said the border guards had entered Estonia after crossing the Narva River on the vessel at around 10am on Wednesday morning.
The Estonian foreign ministry will summon the Russian Chargé d’Affaires after the alleged intrusion.
“Today, the Estonian Police and Border Guard detected an illegal crossing of a temporary control line between Estonia and Russia on the Narva River breakwater by three border guards of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The Estonian border guard patrols responded to the border incident. After a short time, the Russian border guards returned to Russian territory.”
Read the full report here:
Nato on alert after Russian border guards ‘illegally cross border into Estonia’
Russia's central bank says it will sue European banks over Russian frozen asset loan
Thursday 18 December 2025 20:01 , Alex CroftRussia's central bank said on Thursday that it will sue European banks in a Russian court over attempts to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine.
Under international law, sovereign assets cannot be confiscated, so the European Commission has put forward a plan to allow EU governments to use up to 165 billion euros - most of the 210 billion euros worth of Russian sovereign assets currently frozen in Europe - without confiscating them.
Why the frozen Russian asset loan carries financial risk for EU
Thursday 18 December 2025 19:00 , Alex CroftEU countries have to share the risk of the entire frozen Russian asset loan project, if it is approved.
The main risk is a scenario under which the EU has to return the cash to Russia but Russia has not yet paid the war reparations to Ukraine. Kyiv only needs to pay back the loan if Russia pays reparations.
Under this scenario, the EU would be left liable for the amount that has been transferred to Ukraine.
EU governments agreed on December 12 that the immobilised Russian assets will stay frozen indefinitely, removing a serious risk that during one of the votes that take place every six months to keep the money frozen, which requires unanimity, one country could break ranks with others and force the EU to release the money to Moscow.
With the risk of an "accidental" lifting of the sanctions removed, the risk to EU governments is very small because their guarantees would only be called upon if EU governments themselves decide to unfreeze the Russian assets before Russia pays war damages to Ukraine.
Paratrooper killed in Ukraine told family to ‘be proud’ of what he died doing
Thursday 18 December 2025 18:58 , Alex CroftA British paratrooper killed serving in Ukraine said he "went out doing what I trained to do".
The body of Lance Corporal George Hooley, 28, was repatriated to RAF Brize Norton in west Oxfordshire on Wednesday after his death in what the Ministry of Defence called a "tragic accident" last week.
An extract from a letter written by L/Cpl Hooley to be opened in the event of his death said "don't remember me with sadness and loss" because he died "doing what I believed in".
A private, family-only ceremony was held at Brize Norton before L/Cpl Hooley's body was carried past Carterton Repatriation Memorial Garden.
People paid their respects along the route, some in tears, and members of the armed forces and police also turned out to honour the soldier.
Mourners gathered at the garden, designed by the Oxfordshire community as a space for people to honour fallen military personnel.
Putin calls European leaders 'little pigs' amid ongoing peace talks - ICYMI
Thursday 18 December 2025 18:26 , Alex CroftRussian president Vladimir Putin has lashed out at European leaders calling them “little pigs” amid ongoing US-brokered peace talks.
In a bizarre rant against the West, the leader said: “Europe’s little pigs immediately joined in the work of the previous American administration, hoping to profit from the collapse of our country.”
He added that Russia would “liberate its historical lands on the battlefield” or through diplomacy but would achieve its territorial aims in the end. Putin had previously accused Western countries of “hysteria” adding that claims Russia wanted war with Europe were “a lie”.
Russia preparing talks with US, says Kremlin
Thursday 18 December 2025 17:53 , Alex CroftRussia is preparing talks with the US to find out what changes have been made to Washington's Ukraine peace plan after talks with Kyiv and Europe, the Kremlin has said. Tass state news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying on Thursday.
"In order to understand how much it has changed, we are now preparing the relevant contacts with the Americans," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said according to Tass state news agency.
Tass did not say on what level the contacts would take place although Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for investment, is expected to hold talks in Miami in the coming days with US negotiators.
Putin's spymaster spoke with new MI6 chief over phone, Tass reports
Thursday 18 December 2025 17:21 , Alex CroftRussian president Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence director, Sergei Naryshkin, said that he had recently spoken by telephone to the chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), TASS reported on Thursday.
"A few days ago, I had a rather lengthy telephone conversation with the newly appointed chief of MI6, [Blaise] Metreweli," said Naryshkin, the director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
Naryshkin said that Russian intelligence officers worked officially in London and that SIS officers worked officially in Moscow, Tass reported. He gave no further details.
EU to propose loan using Russia's frozen assets under conditions, says draft document
Thursday 18 December 2025 16:49 , Alex CroftEuropean Union leaders will ask EU institutions to urgently begin establishing a reparations loan backed by cash balances linked to Russia's frozen assets, according to a draft document which is still subject to change.
The draft, seen by Reuters news agency, lists several conditions for the loan, including full respect for the contractual obligations of asset holders, equal treatment, compliance with bilateral investment treaties, and a requirement that the funds support both EU and Ukrainian defence industries.
The draft also said EU leaders want the reparations loan to provide financial support for Ukraine starting in the second quarter of 2026, including its military needs.
In the document, the text about the reparations loan was in square brackets which means the proposal had not yet been adopted and may still change as talks go on.
Zelensky: No need to change Ukraine's constitution over Nato membership
Thursday 18 December 2025 16:20 , Alex CroftUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he saw no need to change Ukraine's constitution, which enshrines its aim to become a Nato member state, days after offering to drop that ambition in exchange for hard security guarantees.
A block on Ukraine joining the military alliance has consistently been a core Russian demand to end its nearly four-year war against its neighbour.
Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukraine could compromise on Nato membership if given bilateral security guarantees with protections similar to Nato's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member as an attack against all.
"To be honest, I don't think we need to change our country's constitution," Zelensky said on Thursday when asked about it by a reporter, adding that the Ukrainian people should make decisions about their constitution.
"Certainly not because of calls from the Russian Federation or anyone else," he said.
Russia forms military brigade equipped with hypersonic missile
Thursday 18 December 2025 15:53 , Alex CroftRussia has formed a military brigade which is equipped with its new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov said according to state news agency Tass.
Russia fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine for the first time in November 2024. President Vladimir Putin has boasted that it is impossible to intercept and has destructive power comparable to that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.
Some Western experts have said those claims are exaggerated.
Merz to make frozen Russian assets in Germany available for use by Ukraine
Thursday 18 December 2025 15:31 , Alex CroftGerman chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to comply with Belgian demands and make available assets held in Germany belonging to the Russian central bank to support Ukraine, German news agency dpa reported on Thursday.
It cited negotiating sources on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.
Tusk: EU leaders have agreed to work on the frozen Russian asset proposal
Thursday 18 December 2025 15:12 , Alex CroftEU leaders have agreed in Brussels to work on the option of financing Ukraine in 2026 band 2027 through the use of frozen Russian assets rather than joint EU borrowing, Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk said.
"We are certainly after a breakthrough and the breakthrough means that everybody agrees that it is worth trying and that the use of Russian assets for Ukraine would be justified and good for Europe, but some countries will fight until the end to maximise guarantees for themselves," Tusk told reporters.
"This declaration that we all want to use Russian assets for Ukraine was made and I don't think anybody is going to go back on it," Tusk said during a break in summit talks.
Zelensky: Ukraine ready for any proposal to use Russian assets - but loan preferred
Thursday 18 December 2025 14:51 , Alex CroftUkraine is ready for any proposal which allows it to use Russian sovereign assets frozen by its allies, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
But the current proposal of a loan would be preferred, he added, as EU leaders gear up to vote on the proposal.
Zelensky said he had discussed the issue with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, an opponent of the current proposal to use the assets to secure a large loan for Ukraine.
During the press conference, the Ukrainian president also said Ukraine is facing a foreign aid shortfall of 45-50 billion euros ($53-59 billion) in 2026.
If Kyiv did not receive a first tranche of a loan secured by Russian assets by next spring, he said, it would have to significantly cut drone production.
This would mean that Ukraine would have far fewer drones than Russia, and would not be able to conduct vital long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities, he added.
Six injured in central Ukraine's Cherkasy after Russian attack
Thursday 18 December 2025 14:30 , Alex CroftAt least six people have been injured after Russia launched a "massive" drone attack on Ukraine’s central Cherkasy region, officials said.
"A difficult night for our Cherkasy region," local governor Ihor Taburets said on his Telegram channel.
The attack targeted critical infrastructure and part of the region's main Cherkasy city was without power, he said. He also reported damage to more than a dozen of private houses.
The military said Russia launched at least 82 drones at Ukraine overnight, and Ukrainian forces destroyed 63 of them.
More attacks were reported in the southern Mykolaiv region by the governor there, who said Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure, leaving settlements in the Voznesensk and Mykolaiv districts without power.
The power supply has been since reportedly restored.
Russia has sharply increased the number and intensity of its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in recent months, targeting gas, energy and distribution facilities and plunging entire cities into darkness.
An attack over the weekend left more than a million households across Ukraine without power.
Watch: Zelensky says Russia is preparing for 'year of war'
Thursday 18 December 2025 14:10 , Alex CroftWar will not end if Ukraine runs out of funding, says military analyst
Thursday 18 December 2025 13:48 , Alex CroftThe war will not end immediately if Ukraine finally runs out of funding, a leading military expert has said.
The crunch vote in Brussels on funding Ukraine is set to determine whether Ukraine will secure two-thirds of its funding needs through 2026 and 2027.
“Ukraine relies on economic assistance as well as military assistance in order to continue to function as a state,” said Chatham House analyst Keir Giles, who is an expert on the Russian military.
“But it would be misleading to think that as soon as the as soon as Ukraine goes into the red, the war will end. For Ukraine, just as for Russia, there is no direct and immediate linkage between economic crisis and inability to continue fighting.
“In both cases, it would just make it very much harder and would speed up defeat. But it is not an immediate result.
“So if the European leaders once again fail to meet the challenge at today's talks, there are still options for ensuring that their front line of defense in Ukraine continues to hold through other means of redirecting finance, in order to ensure that Ukrainian society and the economy can continue to function, and in order to continue to defend Europe.”
Why can’t the EU agree on using £80bn of frozen Russian assets for the Ukraine war?
Thursday 18 December 2025 13:26 , Alex CroftThe European Union is set to vote on a historic proposal to use billions in frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine on Thursday.
It comes at a critical juncture in peace talks, after president Vladimir Putin called European leaders “little pigs” on Wednesday and US president Donald Trump accused the continent of showing weakness.
Europe has floated an unprecedented plan to raise £80bn out of a total of £250bn in frozen Russian assets for Ukraine to support its war effort and, in turn, put pressure on Putin to end the war.
Our foreign news reporters James Reynolds and Maira Butt report:
Why can’t the EU agree on using £80bn of frozen Russian assets for the Ukraine war?
Zelensky: We must not let Russian assets be used against us
Thursday 18 December 2025 13:06 , Alex CroftVolodymyr Zelensky has now warned that frozen Russian assets must not be allowed to be used by Moscow to its political advantage.
“Money is needed so that Russia and anybody else doesn’t use these Russian assets as a leverage against us,” he said.
He adds that it is vital to stop these assets being used as a part of Russia’s negotiation tactics, such as by offering access to the US.
Zelensky also spoke on the importance of security guarantees.
“I believe that the end of the war in general is connected with security guarantees, because without security guarantees it doesn’t mean there will be an end.”
Russia “will come” again without guarantees that “speak to everybody”, including Ukrainian people who want to return, investors, tourists, and so on.
Zelensky: Kyiv will need to cut funding for drones without EU loan
Thursday 18 December 2025 13:01 , Alex CroftUkraine will be forced to cut funding for drones if it does not receive a tranche of EU funding by Spring, Zelensky has warned.
Drones are a critical element of Ukraine’s defence, used for both attack and reconaissance purposes.
Drone warfare has been a central feature of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelensky: Ukraine is counting on a positive decision from the EU
Thursday 18 December 2025 12:59 , Alex CroftZelensky is now speaking to a media conference in Brussels.
Ukraine is counting on a positive decision from the EU on the frozen Russian assets, he says.
The signals from Russia, he says, show that Moscow is definitely not interested in peace with Europe.
He says there is a unified position that Ukraine needs to understand what Kyiv’s financing situation will be next year - and says that as it stands the foreign aid deficit will be at 45 billion to 50 billion Euros next year.
In pictures: Zelensky arrives at EU summit
Thursday 18 December 2025 12:56 , Alex Croft Russia's central bank says it will sue European banks over Russian frozen asset loan
Thursday 18 December 2025 12:35 , Alex CroftRussia's central bank said on Thursday that it will sue European banks in a Russian court over attempts to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine.
Under international law, sovereign assets cannot be confiscated, so the European Commission has put forward a plan to allow EU governments to use up to 165 billion euros - most of the 210 billion euros worth of Russian sovereign assets currently frozen in Europe - without confiscating them.
Why the frozen Russian asset loan carries financial risk for EU
Thursday 18 December 2025 12:13 , Alex CroftEU countries have to share the risk of the entire frozen Russian asset loan project, if it is approved.
The main risk is a scenario under which the EU has to return the cash to Russia but Russia has not yet paid the war reparations to Ukraine. Kyiv only needs to pay back the loan if Russia pays reparations.
Under this scenario, the EU would be left liable for the amount that has been transferred to Ukraine.
EU governments agreed on December 12 that the immobilised Russian assets will stay frozen indefinitely, removing a serious risk that during one of the votes that take place every six months to keep the money frozen, which requires unanimity, one country could break ranks with others and force the EU to release the money to Moscow.
With the risk of an "accidental" lifting of the sanctions removed, the risk to EU governments is very small because their guarantees would only be called upon if EU governments themselves decide to unfreeze the Russian assets before Russia pays war damages to Ukraine.
Recap: What is the froze Russian asset loan?
Thursday 18 December 2025 11:51 , Alex CroftThe EU froze €210bn (£184bn) of Russian assets following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Nearly four years on, the EU wants to use this money to generate a loan for Ukraine.
Under the plan, the EU would borrow from Euroclear - a Brussels-based financial company where the assets are held - to provide a €90bn (£79bn) loan, covering around two-thirds of Kyiv’s funding needs for 2026 and 2027.
Ukraine’s other allies would provide the rest, the EU expects.
The money would be repaid to the EU by Ukraine only if Russia agreed to pay reparations for the war. The EU would then repay the money back to Euroclear. Moscow, meanwhile, would still be the legal owner of the assets.
EU imposes sanctions on 41 ships in Russia's shadow fleet
Thursday 18 December 2025 11:29 , Alex CroftThe European Union imposed sanctions on 41 more ships in Russia's shadow fleet, taking the total of designated vessels to almost 600.
The ships are now banned from entering EU ports and can no longer receive a broad range of services related to maritime transport, the EU Council said.
The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia so far, but Moscow has managed to adapt to most measures and is still selling millions of barrels of oil to India and China, albeit at discounts to global prices.
Much of this is shipped using a so-called shadow fleet of vessels operating outside of the Western maritime industry.
The EU on Monday already adopted sanctions targeting Russia oil traders Murtaza Lakhani and Etibar Eyyub for enabling Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on crude exports that help to fund Russia's war in Ukraine.
Frozen Russian asset loan a ‘test’ for Europe after previous failures
Thursday 18 December 2025 11:11 , Alex CroftThe frozen Russian asset loan is the “latest test” on whether Europe can respond appropriately after previous failures to take the Russian threat seriously, an analyst has warned.
The frozen assets no longer have any economic significant to Russia and are now “an instrument by which Russia can demonstrate Europe's inability to take its security challenges seriously”, said Keir Giles, an expert on the Russian military and associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House.
“This is the latest test for Europe in terms of whether they can respond appropriately to the looming threats that an increasing number of European leaders and defense chiefs are describing from Russia, or whether they will once again fail to respond appropriately to the challenge that they are describing,” he added.
“Unless and until Europe addresses this problem, it will be yet another means by which it has let down not only Ukraine, but also the future of its own populations.”
British man captured by Russian forces while ‘fighting for Ukraine’ jailed for 13 years
Thursday 18 December 2025 10:55 , Alex CroftA British man has been jailed for 13 years in a Russian maximum security prison camp after being convicted for fighting with the Ukrainian army, Russian prosecutors said.
Hayden Davies, 30 was accused by Moscow of being a “paid mercenary” who fought in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where fierce fighting continues.
The office of Russia's Prosecutor General said he had been tried by a court in a part of Russian-controlled Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian regions which Moscow illegally claimed as its own in 2022. It did not say how Davies had pleaded.
Full report here:
British man captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine jailed for 13 years
Kyiv delegation heading to US for peace talks on Friday and Saturday - Zelensky
Thursday 18 December 2025 10:42 , Alex CroftUkrainian peace negotiators are en route to the United States and plan to meet the US negotiating team on Friday and Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.
The Ukrainian president told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat that there were no final aligned peace proposals for now, reiterating his plea to partners to strengthen Ukraine in case Russia refuses to stop its war.
Moscow also said on Thursday that Russia was preparing for contacts with the United States to get details about US talks with European powers and Ukraine on a possible peace settlement to end the Ukraine conflict.
180,000 Ukrainians left without power after Russian drone attack
Thursday 18 December 2025 10:27 , Alex CroftAround 180,000 consumers were left without electricity supplies across five Ukrainian regions after a Russian attack overnight, Ukraine's acting energy minister Artem Nekrasov said on Thursday.
Nekrasov said on the Telegram messenger that the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, the central regions of Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk, and the north-eastern region of Sumy were attacked during the night.
In pictures: EU leaders gather for critical summit
Thursday 18 December 2025 10:13 , Alex Croft Zelensky touches down in Brussels
Thursday 18 December 2025 09:53 , Alex CroftVolodymyr Zelensky has touched down in Brussels, where he will join EU talks aimed at finding a solution to fund Ukraine.
This is according to Dmytro Lytvyn, Zelensky's communications adviser, who told European Pravda that the Ukrainian president had “landed”.
EU leaders are expected to make a final decision on the ‘reparations loan’ today.
British man jailed in Russia for 13 years accused of fighting for Ukraine
Thursday 18 December 2025 09:47 , Alex CroftA British man who Moscow says fought for Ukraine against the Russian army has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security prison camp after being convicted of being a paid mercenary, Russian prosecutors said on Thursday.
The office of Russia's Prosecutor General named the jailed Briton as 30-year-old Hayden Davies and said he had been tried by a court in a part of Russian-controlled Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian regions which Moscow claimed as its own in 2022.
The Russian statement did not say how Davies had pleaded.
It said Davies had arrived in western Ukraine in August 2024, signed a contract to fight for the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine, undergone military training, and then fought against the Russian army in Donetsk.
Davies had been captured by Russia in winter 2024 carrying a US-made assault rifle and ammunition, it said.