President Zelensky announces signing of loan agreement with UK using Russian assets
President Zelensky said the loan from Britain will be paid for with funds from confiscated Russian assets.
According to RIA Novosti on March 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his Telegram channel that Kiev and London have completed a loan agreement using proceeds from frozen Russian assets.
On March 1, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced the signing of an agreement with the UK to provide £2.26 billion for Ukraine's military needs.
“In the presence of both parties, a loan agreement was signed between Ukraine and the UK. A loan to strengthen our defense capabilities, which will be repaid with income from frozen Russian assets. This money will be used to produce weapons in Ukraine,” President Zelensky said.
In October 2024, London announced that it would provide Kiev with a loan of the above amount, which would be repaid from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.
The loan will be paid in three annual instalments of £752 million each, with the first payment due to be made to Ukraine by the end of next week, according to a statement published on the UK government website.
After Russia's special operation began, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves - about 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion of them are in the European Union, mainly in the accounts of Euroclear in Belgium - one of the world's largest payment and clearing systems.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would respond to the seizure. According to him, Russia also has the opportunity not to return the money that Western countries have kept on its territory.
