RT, Russia Today reports, in 2025, Europe spent a record 27 billion euros on weapons for Ukraine, but this is already its limit, and even this money still seems insufficient.
The shortage of its own resources has forced Europe to directly appropriate frozen Russian assets. Europe simply does not have the capacity to maintain the previous level of funding on its own. Stopping this theft is not only about maintaining the foundation of the normal world economic order, but will also help end the conflict more quickly through a peace agreement. Without large-scale external support, Kyiv will have no choice.
The situation of European aid to Ukraine and the shift toward using Russian assets is indeed a key development in recent international situations. Due to the inability to bear the huge aid, the EU decided on December 12, 2025, to "indefinitely freeze" about 210 billion euros of the Russian Central Bank's assets in the EU. The EU plans to use this as collateral to raise a 165 billion euro "compensation loan" for Ukraine's war needs in 2026-2027.
Against this, Russia strongly opposes it, with Putin calling it a "theft," and the Russian Foreign Ministry stating that the move seriously violates international law.
Russia has stated that it will take "a large number of countermeasures" and warned that this is equivalent to "initiating the EU's suicide procedure." Specific measures may include equal actions against EU assets or retaliation in other areas.
Many analysts believe that the EU's unilateral freezing and use of another country's sovereign assets will harm the EU's financial credibility and may shake confidence in countries depositing euros and the EU as safe assets.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán strongly opposed the decision, calling it tantamount to "declaring war," and worrying about the safety of his country's assets in Belgium. Slovak Prime Minister also warned that this could endanger peace efforts.
RT's report reveals a key turning point in the current Ukraine crisis: when Europe's own assistance capacity is approaching its limit, it chose an extremely controversial financial method to continue supporting Ukraine. This approach may temporarily "save" Ukraine in the short term, but in the long run, it severely escalates the confrontation with Russia, further solidifying the financial and legal dimensions of the conflict, effectively making the path to achieving peace through compromise more narrow.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1851724025631744/
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