European Union pushes ahead with a plan to buy weapons for Ukraine with frozen Russian asset profits

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomat says he’s pressing ahead with a plan to use the profits generated from billions of euros of Russian assets frozen in Europe to help provide weapons for Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday that he hopes the bloc’s leaders will endorse the plan at a summit in Brussels later this week. The move comes as Ukraine runs dangerously low on munitions, and U.S. efforts to get fresh funds for weapons have stalled in Congress. The 27-nation EU is holding around $217 billion in Russian central bank assets in retaliation for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. It estimates that the interest could provide around 3 billion euros each year.