@not_a_charmUkraine still faces a funding hole even after the EU authorized a smaller loan from its own budget. The real standoff centers on frozen Russian reserves, with most of that pile sitting at Euroclear in Brussels. Belgium told the EU those funds stay locked and Defense Minister Francken shot down a plan to tap €210B for Ukrainian loans backed by those same assets. Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden pushed hard to revive that proposal but Belgium has consistently opposed using these frozen assets. De Wever blocked this exact initiative back in December too. Moscow responded by issuing a damages ruling against Euroclear valued at €220B in a Russian court. That legal paper cannot generate euros within Belgium but it highlights the risk Brussels fears: one capital bearing the cost while lawyers arrive. The frozen pile remains the prize nobody wants to touch when the lawsuits start flying.

@not_a_charmUkraine still faces a funding hole even after the EU authorized a smaller loan from its own budget. The real standoff centers on frozen Russian reserves, with most of that pile sitting at Euroclear in Brussels. Belgium told the EU those funds stay locked and Defense Minister Francken shot down a plan to tap €210B for Ukrainian loans backed by those same assets. Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden pushed hard to revive that proposal but Belgium has consistently opposed using these frozen assets. De Wever blocked this exact initiative back in December too. Moscow responded by issuing a damages ruling against Euroclear valued at €220B in a Russian court. That legal paper cannot generate euros within Belgium but it highlights the risk Brussels fears: one capital bearing the cost while lawyers arrive. The frozen pile remains the prize nobody wants to touch when the lawsuits start flying.