EU leaders to loan €90bn to Ukraine - but fail to agree on using Russian assets

EU leaders said the loan would be repayable only when Russia paid reparations for the war.

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Ukraine was set to run out of cash by next spring, and European Council chief António Costa said the loan would be paid back only when Russia paid reparations for its full-scale war.

"We committed, we delivered," said Costa, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko praised the deal as "a decisive step for economic resilience".

A bid to use €210bn in Russian cash frozen in the EU, mainly in Belgium, ultimately failed as leaders could not convince Belgium's prime minister his country would be protected from Russian retaliation.

The bulk of the cash is held by Brussels-based Euroclear and interest from the frozen assets is already being paid to Ukraine. Russia has already launched legal action against the clearing house.