European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss further backing for Ukraine, including the use of Russian frozen assets to provide a 140-billion-euro ($163.27bn) loan to the war-torn country, drawing fury from Moscow.

European Council President Antonio Costa welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Thursday’s summit as a “future member” of the bloc, announcing that a “political decision” would be made on the plan to use cash balances from frozen Russian central bank securities to cover Kyiv’s funding needs in 2026 and 2027.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he saw “broad support” for the measure. His Finnish counterpart, Petteri Orpo, said he hoped the European Commission would come up with a concrete proposal soon, so assets would be available next year.

But Belg

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