US Urged Europeans to Oppose EU’s Loan Plan to Help Ukraine
Emergency services work at the site of a Russian attack on residential buildings in Kyiv, in September.
Photographer: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty ImagesThe US lobbied several countries in the European Union in an effort to block EU plans to use frozen Russian central bank assets to back a massive loan to Ukraine, according to European diplomats familiar with the matter.
US officials argued to member states that the assets are needed to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow and should not be used to prolong the war, said the diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.