EU aims to secure Ukraine’s financial stability and intensify sanctions against Russia

The European Union considers long-term financial safeguards for Ukraine and unveils new measures to freeze Russian assets and target entities aiding Moscow’s war effort, marking a significant escalation in its Ukraine support strategy.

France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, said this week that the European Union could take a decision that would guarantee Ukraine’s financial stability for the next two years, and outlined fresh ...

measures to squeeze Russian access to assets and penalise actors aiding the Kremlin’s war effort.

Speaking to journalists ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Barrot said: “Уже за кілька днів під час Європейської ради, яка збере глав держав і урядів 27 країн-членів ЄС, може бути ухвалене рішення, яке дасть змогу убезпечити Україну від будь-яких фінансових труднощів упродовж двох наступних років і поставити її в сильну позицію в момент, коли тривають дискусії, що мають привести до миру”. He added that talks between Ukraine, Europe and the United States were due to continue on 15 December in Berlin.

Barrot said Europeans had decided to take control of the issue of Russian assets held in Europe, and signalled a readiness to hold those assets frozen “for as long as necessary , until Putin’s Russia ends its aggressive war and pays reparations to Ukraine”. According to the original report, he said Europeans had adopted “significant decisions” to deny Russia access to assets placed in Europe.

The minister also announced immediate sanctions targeting Russian entities and individuals he said were enabling the war. “Nасамперед проти дев’яти структур, відповідальних за обхід наших санкцій – так званого тіньового флоту, зокрема судноплавних компаній, які працюють або пов’язані з двома нафтовими компаніями – Лукойл і Роснефть”, Barrot said, adding that sanctions would also be imposed on 12 “agents of Russian destabilisation in Europe” responsible for digital interference. He named measures “щодо Ксав’є Моро – франко-російського громадянина, який проживає в Росії і є одним із рупорів кремлівської пропаганди в Європі” and sanctions affecting “Джона Марка Дуггана, відповідального за цифрові втручання в Європі, і, зокрема, одного з організаторів кампанії, викритої французькою службою Viginium”, according to the original report.

Those announcements come against a backdrop of earlier EU financial and sanctions decisions. On 23 October 2024, EU institutions approved an exceptional macro‑financial assistance (MFA) loan of up to €35 billion and a loan cooperation mechanism designed to help Ukraine meet repayment obligations on loans provided by the EU and G7 partners, a package intended to shore up macro‑financial stability and ease external constraints. EU figures show the bloc provided around €19.5 billion in short‑term support during 2023 , primarily concessional loans , and in October 2024 adopted further measures amounting to an exceptional MFA loan and a cooperation mechanism covering up to €45 billion in partner lending, designed to be available before the end of 2024.

In Brussels, the Commission and member states have also taken steps on immobilisation of Russian assets. The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has welcomed a decision to freeze certain Russian assets indefinitely, a move described as opening the path for a reparations financing mechanism for Ukraine. The measure was presented as removing the earlier requirement to renew asset freezes every six months, thereby reducing the risk that a single member state could block continued immobilisation.

Sanctions have continued to intensify. The EU adopted a wide 19th package of measures on 23 October 2025 that aimed to further squeeze the Russian war economy, targeting energy, finance, the military industrial base, enablers and profiteers. That package included bans on certain Russian hydrocarbons and new restrictions on services such as high‑performance computing, AI and space‑based commercial services to Russian entities, and further measures against the so‑called “shadow fleet”. The commission said the 19th package represented a significant escalation intended to cut revenue streams feeding the Kremlin’s aggression.

Economic institutions have repeatedly warned that timely and predictable external financing is crucial for Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund concluded an Article IV consultation and a review under an Extended Fund Facility arrangement in December 2023, allowing Ukraine to draw about US$900 million and stressing the need for continued external support alongside domestic reforms to protect macroeconomic stability. Separately, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference on 10 July 2025 the European Commission announced a new €2.3 billion package of agreements with public financial institutions to support reconstruction, including guarantees and grants expected to mobilise further investment, and launched the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine to crowd in private capital.

Taken together, the announcements outlined by Barrot reflect a strategy that mixes long‑term financing mechanisms with stepped‑up punitive measures aimed at reducing Russian access to European markets and assets. The minister framed the approach as both protective , securing two years of financial stability for Ukraine , and punitive, seeking to deny revenue and mobility to companies and individuals said to be sustaining the war effort. Industry and institutional data cited by EU bodies indicate that combining macro‑financial support with targeted sanctions is intended to bolster Ukraine’s capacity to maintain public services and to underpin any future political settlement.

The company and official claims cited by ministers and EU institutions have been presented as policy choices designed to link immobilisation of assets to eventual reparations, while creating durable financing arrangements that reduce the need for ad hoc renewals. Government figures and EU press statements underpin the scale of assistance and the tightening of sanctions, but implementation will depend on continuing unanimity among member states and on the operationalisation of mechanisms to convert immobilised assets into support for Ukraine.

Source: Noah Wire Services