{"id":3343,"date":"2025-12-20T03:22:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T03:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2025-12-20T03:22:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T03:22:00","slug":"eu-backs-105-billion-loan-to-ukraine-without-use-of-frozen-russian-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3343","title":{"rendered":"EU Backs $105 Billion Loan to Ukraine\u2014Without Use of Frozen Russian Assets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the <strong>European Union<\/strong>\u2019s financial support for <strong>Ukraine<\/strong>, <strong>Australia<\/strong> proposing a gun buyback program, and violent protests across <strong>Bangladesh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>\u2018We Will Not Collapse\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>European Union leaders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/ukraine-welcomes-90-billion-euro-eu-loan-despite-lack-deal-russian-assets-2025-12-19\/\">agreed<\/a> on Friday to provide a $105 billion, interest-free loan to Ukraine over the next two years to support its war effort against Russia. However, the landmark pledge <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/16\/eu-reparations-loan-ukraine-russia-frozen-assets\/\">stopped short<\/a> of allocating billions of dollars\u2019 worth of frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, concluding (at least, for now) a major flash point that has divided the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the <strong>European Union<\/strong>\u2019s financial support for <strong>Ukraine<\/strong>, <strong>Australia<\/strong> proposing a gun buyback program, and violent protests across <strong>Bangladesh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-fallback\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">\n                <\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/category\/world-brief\/\">Sign up<\/a>  to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<form data-shortcode-newsletter=\"world_brief\" class=\"newsletter-unit-signup newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode email-capture--step-1 newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief newsletter-shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"show-on-email-capture--signed-up hide-from-newsletter-subscriber newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode--container\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit newsletter-row\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/h2>\n<p>\n                        <button class=\"button\">Sign Up<\/button>\n                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"grid--flex newsletter-world_brief newsletter-signup-container\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"World Brief sign up form\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"buttons\">\n<div class=\"hide-from-newsletter-subscriber privacy-policy-container\">\n<div class=\"privacy-policy-acknowledge\">\n<p><small>By submitting your email, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/termsofuse\/\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Use<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n    <label for=\"email-world_brief\">Enter your email<\/label><br \/>\n    <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"hide-from-reg hide-from-sub\" id=\"email-world_brief\" aria-required=\"true\" required=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <button class=\"button button--signup \" data-newsletter-id=\"world_brief\" data-sourceid=\"In-article unit\" type=\"submit\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"sign-up-text\">Sign Up<\/span><br \/>\n      <span class=\"loading-text\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>\u2018We Will Not Collapse\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>European Union leaders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/ukraine-welcomes-90-billion-euro-eu-loan-despite-lack-deal-russian-assets-2025-12-19\/\">agreed<\/a> on Friday to provide a $105 billion, interest-free loan to Ukraine over the next two years to support its war effort against Russia. However, the landmark pledge <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/16\/eu-reparations-loan-ukraine-russia-frozen-assets\/\">stopped short<\/a> of allocating billions of dollars\u2019 worth of frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, concluding (at least, for now) a major flash point that has divided the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n<p>Without the EU\u2019s loan, Ukraine was on track to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/europe\/ukraines-zelensky-warns-of-dire-battlefield-if-europe-doesnt-tap-russian-assets-15b390f0?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqf2yI8uej0gCcT4tqRSh9E6MEPjqPPXAHOXz3MHnAZHVkSu1ftN_OUYqBl_2IM%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6944438c&amp;gaa_sig=pggU_YMMBBwAfanhlPGnw-21djQ6rOFun0NsW_gFlYKkEykzkOO_MKl-4jmiu7Le-HmNQzQq7KluCvE2XEf23Q%3D%3D\">run out of funding<\/a> in the spring. According to the International Monetary Fund, Kyiv needs $161 billion in 2026 and 2027 to effectively combat Russia; otherwise, Ukraine would be forced to <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/16\/ukraine-russia-war-drones-iran-china-fpv-nato\/\">slash drone production<\/a>. But Friday\u2019s approved loan prevented this concern from becoming a reality\u2014covering roughly two-thirds of Kyiv\u2019s financial needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a signal to the Russians that there is no point for them to continue the war because we have financial support, and therefore, we will not collapse on the front line,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ZelenskyyUa\/status\/2002044179547914655\">wrote<\/a> on X on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>EU leaders also argued that European support for Ukraine is vital to prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/30\/europe-russia-ukraine-war-nato-baltics-security-defense-deterrence\/\">future Russian aggression<\/a> against the rest of the continent. \u201cWe have a simple choice: either money today, or blood tomorrow,\u201d Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>EU member states agreed to use the bloc\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/19\/world\/europe\/ukraine-russia-frozen-assets-loan.html\">own budget<\/a> as collateral instead of allocating frozen Russian assets in Europe, totaling roughly $247 billion, to pay for the loan. Although several European countries, including Ukraine, campaigned for the use of the immobilized Russian funds, Belgium refused to back this plan, arguing that it failed to adequately protect Brussels from potential legal and financial risks; around $226 billion worth of Russia\u2019s Europe-based assets are held by <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/03\/28\/seizing-russian-assets-ukraine-europe-trump\/\">Belgian company Euroclear<\/a>, which Russia\u2019s central bank has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/5d74f0d0-00c8-4509-b711-d27de32152c6\">brought a lawsuit against<\/a> in a Russian court.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the European Union said these assets will remain blocked until Russia pays for <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/16\/ukraine-eu-reparation-claims-russia-war-damages-compensation\/\">Ukraine\u2019s war reparations<\/a>. The World Bank estimates that the cost of reconstruction over the coming decade will be at least $524 billion\u2014or almost three times Kyiv\u2019s economic output in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>German Chancellor Friedrich Merz <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europe-summit-ukraine-funds-assets-russia-loan-abc7b025112dba1f074755e454c29681?user_email=6b04284e4d00370f16d3dac0a626e01bf24d86e4d6995646867da6aa680488d0&amp;utm_medium=Morning_Wire&amp;utm_source=Sailthru_AP&amp;utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire%20Dec_19_2025&amp;utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers\">warned<\/a> that \u201cif Russia does not pay reparations we will\u2014in full accordance with international law\u2014make use of Russian immobilized assets for paying back the loan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced this proposal on Friday as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/media-telecom\/russian-president-putins-remarks-end-of-year-press-conference-2025-12-19\/\">daylight robbery<\/a>,\u201d suggesting that \u201cthe consequences could be grave\u201d for the countries that authorize it.<\/p>\n<p>Not every EU member state is on board with the loan, though, with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia all initially opposed. \u201cI would not like a European Union in war,\u201d Hungarian Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/07\/11\/orban-putin-hungary-russia-war-politics-eu\/\">Viktor Orban<\/a> said, adding that \u201cto give money means war.\u201d The leaders of all three countries have been described as allies of Putin.<\/p>\n<p>However, on Friday, Orban, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico ultimately decided not to block the loan\u2019s passage in exchange for protections from any financial fallout\u2014risking their relationships with Russia to avoid further dissent within the European bloc.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Today\u2019s Most Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>What We\u2019re Following<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Getting guns off the streets. <\/strong>Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/bondi-beach-shooting-australia-announces-new-gun-buyback-plan\/\">announced<\/a> a buyback program on Friday to \u201cget guns off our streets.\u201d The initiative comes in response to the Bondi Beach mass shooting in Sydney on Sunday, during which two suspected gunmen whom investigators believe may have been inspired by Islamic State ideology killed 15 worshippers and injured dozens more at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration.<\/p>\n<p>One of the suspected gunmen held a firearm license and owned six guns \u201cin spite of living in the middle of Sydney\u2019s suburbs,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns.\u201d Australia also issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/19\/world\/asia\/australia-gun-buyback-bondi-shooting.html?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20251219&amp;instance_id=168203&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=159637444&amp;segment_id=212499&amp;user_id=3a92aa035d8e7d51a6ba63375b87c152\">buyback program<\/a> following the country\u2019s 1996 mass shooting, which experts say melted down as many as 1 million firearms.<\/p>\n<p>Under the proposal, the Australian government would pay gun owners to surrender \u201csurplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.\u201d The initiative adds to <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/15\/australia-bondi-beach-mass-shooting-antisemitism-albanese-gun-control\/\">other proposed measures<\/a> aimed at tightening the country\u2019s already strict gun laws, including imposing a limit on the number and types of firearms that an individual can own. Albanese has also vowed to further combat antisemitism by <a href=\"https:\/\/ministers.education.gov.au\/anthony-albanese\/special-envoys-plan-combat-antisemitism\">increasing penalties<\/a> on those convicted of spreading \u201chate, division and radicalisation.\u201d The buyback program must still be approved by lawmakers. Australian opposition leader Sussan Ley called on Albanese on Friday to recall Parliament before Christmas to pass the legislation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Violent nationwide protests. <\/strong>Bangladeshi officials urged for calm on Friday after mass, violent protests swept the country over the killing of a youth protest leader. Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/19\/who-was-osman-hadi-why-is-bangladesh-on-fire-over-his-death\">prepared to launch<\/a> his parliamentary campaign ahead of elections planned for February 2026 when he was shot in Bangladesh\u2019s capital, Dhaka, last week. Hadi was a prominent figure of the student-led movement that ousted then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last August and a vocal critic of <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/05\/22\/india-bangladesh-tension-trade-border-siliguri\/\">India\u2019s political influence<\/a> on Bangladesh. Medical and party officials confirmed Hadi\u2019s death late Thursday after he spent six days on life support.<\/p>\n<p>Coming on the heels of another nationwide Bangladeshi demonstration this week against New Delhi\u2019s decision to host Hasina during her self-imposed exile, interim leader Muhammad Yunus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/bangladesh-rocked-by-unrest-over-death-student-leader-2025-12-19\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=121925&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">warned<\/a> on Friday that recent instability\u2014including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/18\/asia\/bangladesh-student-leader-death-protests-intl-hnk\">arson attacks<\/a> on journalists\u2014could undermine February\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/08\/04\/bangladesh-sheikh-hasina-yunus-awami-league-democracy-human-rights-economy\/\">parliamentary elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a critical moment in our nation\u2019s history when we are making a historic democratic transition,\u201d the interim government said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/violence-erupts-in-bangladesh-after-death-of-youth-leader\/a-75234616\">statement<\/a>. \u201cWe cannot and must not allow it to be derailed by those few who thrive on chaos and reject peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>TikTok\u2019s new owners. <\/strong>TikTok\u2019s Chinese owner, ByteDance, reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/american-investor-consortium-acquire-tiktok-us-entity-axios-reports-2025-12-18\/\">signed<\/a> binding agreements with three major investors to form a new U.S. joint venture to own the app, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-12-19\/tiktok-owner-bytedance-on-track-for-50-billion-profit-in-2025\">internal memo<\/a> by TikTok CEO Shou Chew that was seen by <em>Bloomberg<\/em> on Thursday. The deal\u2014expected to close on Jan. 22, 2026\u2014will allow the popular U.S. social media app to continue operating in the United States, a future once considered uncertain due to its ties to Beijing.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance\u2019s divestiture from TikTok over fears that the app\u2019s user data could be accessed by the Chinese government and therefore posed a <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2023\/01\/12\/tiktok-security-concerns-china-european-union-social-media\/\">national security threat<\/a>. At the time, ByteDance owned 100 percent of TikTok\u2019s shares. Trump signed an <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/11\/15\/tiktok-ban-update-trump-ownership-china-bytedance\/\">executive order<\/a> during his first term effectively banning TikTok and vowed to further <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-tiktok-social-media-china-bytedance\/\">crack down<\/a> on its U.S. presence this year. However, a deal to transfer TikTok ownership to U.S. companies proved more challenging than anticipated, requiring <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/09\/15\/us-china-tiktok-framework-divest-deal-trade-talks-nvidia-trump-xi\/\">months of negotiations<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/04\/04\/trump-tiktok-deal-ban-delay-75-days\/\">several monthslong extensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Under the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tiktok-divestment-deal-trump-2fdb915cac5b6d06907a5a2de6764376?user_email=6b04284e4d00370f16d3dac0a626e01bf24d86e4d6995646867da6aa680488d0&amp;utm_medium=Morning_Wire&amp;utm_source=Sailthru_AP&amp;utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire%20Dec_19_2025&amp;utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers\">new consortium<\/a>, nearly half of TikTok will be owned by a group of non-Chinese investors. The U.S.-based Oracle and Silver Lake investment companies as well as the Emirati firm MGX will each own 15 percent of TikTok\u2019s shares; U.S. user data, including TikTok\u2019s personalized algorithm, will be stored locally in an Oracle-run system. ByteDance will retain a 19.9 percent stake, with another 30.1 percent held by ByteDance affiliates. It is unclear who will own the remaining 5 percent of the company.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>What in the World?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast won Chile\u2019s presidential election runoff on Sunday. What is Kast\u2019s political alignment?<\/p>\n<p>A. Communist<br \/>B. Hard right<br \/>C. Centrist<br \/>D. Liberal conservative<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Odds and Ends<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u2018Tis the season for \u2026 festive crimes? Canadian police are investigating a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/santa-claus-montreal-police-grocery-store-theft-9.7020673\">shoplifting incident<\/a> that took place on Monday, in which several people dressed as Santa Claus and his elves stole more than $2,000 worth of food from a Montreal grocery store. The Robins des Ruelles (or Robins of the Alleys) group has claimed responsibility for the theft, adding that they redistributed the stolen goods under a Christmas tree at the nearby Place Simon-Valois and brought leftovers to various community fridges. The thieves, likening themselves to modern-day Robin Hoods, have accused supermarket chains of using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/business\/canada-inflation-rate-unchanged-november-2025-9.7015905\">high inflation<\/a> to justify raising prices.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>And the Answer Is\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>B. Hard right<\/p>\n<p>If Kast\u2019s right-wing policies prove successful in Chile, they could become popular in other countries around the region, Michael Albertus <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/15\/chile-kast-trump-populism-america-venezuela\/\">argues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To take the rest of FP\u2019s weekly international news quiz, <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/19\/news-quiz-chile-election-kast-russia-ukraine-peace-trump-iran\/\">click here<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/alerts\/\">sign up<\/a> to be alerted when a new one is published.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-credit\">Correction, Dec. 19, 2025: A previous version misstated the title of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/12\/19\/european-union-loan-ukraine-frozen-russian-assets-belgium\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the European Union\u2019s financial support for Ukraine, Australia proposing a gun buyback program, and violent protests across Bangladesh. \u2018We Will Not Collapse\u2019 European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a $105 billion, interest-free loan to Ukraine over the next two years to support its war [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}