{"id":169222,"date":"2025-10-24T09:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T09:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-deal-collapses-to-hand-kyiv-e140bn-in-frozen-russian-assets-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T09:41:10","slug":"ukraine-war-live-deal-collapses-to-hand-kyiv-e140bn-in-frozen-russian-assets-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-deal-collapses-to-hand-kyiv-e140bn-in-frozen-russian-assets-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war live: Deal collapses to hand Kyiv \u20ac140bn in frozen Russian assets – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span>Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span>
Swipe for next article
Decision on whether to support Ukraine with a huge loan is pushed to December
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
The EU<\/a> has failed to agree a deal to back Ukraine<\/a> with the help of frozen Russian assets valued at \u20ac140bn ($163.2bn).
The proposed loan would have met Ukraine<\/a>‘s “pressing financial needs” and propped up its war-ravaged economy for the next two years, but could not be agreed due to legal concerns raised by Belgium<\/a>.
\u201cRussia<\/a>‘s assets should remain immobilised until Russia<\/a> ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine<\/a> and compensates it for the damage caused by its war,” a declaration by the leaders said. The matter of the loan has been pushed to the next EU summit in December.
Belgian PM Bart De Wever has said he could only support the plan if he had strong assurances that it was legal and that other EU countries would share the risks involved.
Belgian financial institution, Euroclear, holds the assets that would be used to fund the loan.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin<\/a> has warned that Moscow will not bow to US pressure after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russia<\/a>\u2019s two largest oil companies.
The sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil are an “unfriendly” act which “will have certain consequences\u201d, Putin said, adding that Russia\u2019s energy sector feels confident.
Sir Keir Starmer urged allies to build on Donald Trump\u2019s \u2018decisive action\u2019 against Russia ahead of the coalition of the willing meeting today.
The prime minister insisted that \u201cthe only person involved in this conflict who does not want to stop the war is [Russian president] Vladimir Putin\u201d.
“We must ratchet up the pressure on Russia and build on President Trump’s decisive action,\u201d he said, after the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil in a bid to bring Putin to the negotiating table over a ceasefire in Ukraine.
A key figure in Ukraine’s 3-month-old campaign to strike Russian oil facilities with long-range drones said Moscow was improving its ability to intercept them – but that his unit was curating the technology to stay one step ahead.
Ukraine has attacked Russian energy facilities more than 60 times since the start of August, causing significant damage and disrupting the flow of oil and products through Russia’s vast pipeline system.
A senior Ukrainian commander in the 14th Deep Strike Regiment said: “We are dealing with a fairly skilled opponent. They have a high level of training and they quickly adapt to our methods, to the tactics that we use.”
He acknowledged that Russia had \u201cmade a very large bet\u201d developing its electronic counter-drone measures, but said his forces were rising to the challenge.
“We rely on quality. A large number of drones, I will tell you honestly … do not always solve a particular problem. It is the new approach, the new technologies that now give us the success that you all see.\u201d
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov inspected the “Southern” grouping of forces fighting in Ukraine, where he was briefed on the battlefield situation there, his ministry said on Friday.
In recent days, analysts have suggested the Kremlin is falsely attempting to portray Russian forces as having established a bridgehead in southern Ukraine.
Russian forces took control of Dronivka village in the Bakhmut region of Donetsk Oblast, the Russian defence ministry claimed today.
Swedish defence group Saab can meet demand for its Gripen fighter jets even if a landmark deal for up to 150 planes to Ukraine becomes reality, the defence group’s CEO said on Friday.
Sweden this week signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Ukraine over air defences that includes the possibility of exporting 100 to 150 new Gripen E in what would be Sweden’s biggest aircraft export order yet.
Saab CEO Micael Johansson said the company was already increasing production and could soon build between 20 and 30 planes per year, but would have to double that if the Ukraine deal is confirmed. He did not say what current output is.
Donald Trump has proven more sympathetic to Putin (and Russia) than his predecessors since taking office.
The US president has urged Ukraine to check its expectations for peace, while opening lines of communication to Moscow.
But the war he thought would be easy to end has been anything but. Nine months on, Russia\u2019s demands remain unchanged.
Trump\u2019s patience is now wearing thin. This week, the US hit Russia with sanctions on its lucrative oil industry in an effort to bring it to the negotiating table.
Putin is unmoved. The Russian leader warned that sanctions would only hurt ties between Washington and Moscow, and said that they would have little impact on the Russian economy.
Trump shot back in kind: \u201cI’m glad he feels that way. That’s good. I’ll let you know about it in six months. Let’s see how it all works out.\u201d
Vladimir Putin said that those advising Donald Trump to sanction Russian oil were working against the interests of the United States.
“If our oil and petroleum products volumes slump on the world market, it will lead to a spike in the price of oil and petroleum products, including at the gas stations, and the United States is no exception,\u201d the Russian leader told reporters.
\u201cThose who suggest such decisions to the current administration need to understand who they are working for,\u201d he added.
The United States announced this week that it was sanctioning two of Russia\u2019s largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to bring Putin to the negotiating table over Ukraine.
The prime minister<\/a> will host leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> in London<\/a> for talks on how to increase pressure on Moscow<\/a> and boost Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s defences.
Sir Keir will urge leaders to step up the provision of long-range weapons after a successful attack on a chemical plant in Bryansk, Russia, using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles<\/a>:
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday that air defence systems had downed three drones en route to Russia’s capital.
Five people, including one child, were injured as a result of a drone attack on the Moscow region, governor Andrei Vorobyov said earlier.
Hungary is working on finding a way to “circumvent” US sanctions on Russian oil companies, prime minister Viktor Orban said in an interview with state radio Kossuth this morning.
Orban also said that he has talked to Hungary’s oil and gas company MOL on the topic.
US president Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting Lukoil and Rosneft.
Orban, who has opposed the EU’s policy of providing military aid to Kyiv, has long cast Ukraine as a threat to Hungarians, saying its potential EU membership would destroy agriculture and put Hungarian jobs and even pensions at risk.
He reiterated his stance yesterday, saying Ukraine must not be allowed to join the bloc.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span>Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inSwipe for next article Decision on whether to support Ukraine with a huge loan is pushed to DecemberFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":169223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}