Beirut: The leaders of the European Union have agreed to jointly borrow £90 billion to give to Ukraine, after a plan to finance a similar-sized loan using sanctioned Russian state assets foundered during a late-night summit in Brussels. The EU will borrow the money as a bloc to make sure Ukraine does not run out of cash for another two years, while the war heads towards its fifth year and peace talks continue.
According to National News Agency - Lebanon, the union's 27 national leaders spent hours at what was seen as a make-or-break summit to agree on a substantial package of financial aid which has been welcomed by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The original plan was to turn to a large pile of Russian central bank assets, 'frozen' in European financial institutions by economic sanctions since the early weeks of the war, to extend a lifeline loan to Ukraine.