BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever insisted on Thursday that his European partners must share the risk of using billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets that are held in his country to help keep Ukraine’s economy and war effort afloat in coming years.

Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around $153 billion, and the European Union’s executive branch has been developing a plan to use Russia’s frozen assets as collateral to drum up funds.

The biggest tranche of those assets — some $225 billion worth — are held in Belgium, and the Belgian government is wary of using the money without firm guarantees from other EU countries.

“If we want to give them to Ukraine, we have to do it all together,” De Wever told reporters as he arrived

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