The European Union is considering using frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine after the war

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaia Kalas, revealed that the bloc will explore ways to use frozen Russian assets to finance defense and reconstruction in Ukraine after the war ends, noting at the same time that seizing these assets "is not politically realistic" at this time.

This came during her statements following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, where Kalas said: "They all agreed that it is unreasonable for Russia to regain this money unless it fully compensates Ukraine" for the damages caused by the war.

She added: "We do not believe they will pay for those losses. Therefore, we need an exit strategy to use this money after the war ends."

It is worth noting that the EU has frozen Russian assets valued at approximately 210 billion euros (equivalent to 245.85 billion dollars) under sanctions imposed on Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has long called, supported by several EU countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland, for the confiscation of these frozen assets and their use to support Kyiv. However, these calls have faced opposition from major powers in the bloc, such as France and Germany, along with Belgium, which holds most of these assets.

In this regard, Belgian Foreign Minister, Maxim Prevoo, warned of the consequences of confiscation, telling reporters in Copenhagen: "These assets are strongly protected under international law.. confiscating them will lead to systematic financial instability as well as eroding trust in the euro."

Instead of confiscation, opposing countries indicated that the EU is currently using the profits from those assets to fund support provided to Ukraine, expressing concerns about the legality of the confiscation step and its potential impact on the euro currency.

"Euroclear," a securities depository in Belgium, holds the majority of these frozen assets.