Russian Assets to Fund Arms for Ukraine as EU Approves Additional €900 Million

The European Union will allocate an additional €900 million from windfall revenues generated by frozen Russian assets to procure weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, European Pravda reported.

The decision brings the total volume of recent EU support for Ukraine’s defense industry to €3.3 billion.

Charles Fries, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service for Peace, Security and Defence, confirmed the funds will come directly from the extraordinary proceeds linked to Russian sovereign assets immobilized in the EU.

“On Friday, Kaja Kallas announced that the EU would invest €1 billion in Ukraine’s defense industry. But that’s not all. Over the next two weeks, we will allocate an additional €900 million for the purchase of weapons and ammunition — all financed from the windfall profits of frozen Russian assets,” Fries said.

Last week, several contracts were signed in Lviv to channel this funding into key sectors of Ukraine’s defense industry, including the production of drones and missiles.

On April 19, the European Commission confirmed it would allocate €2.1 billion from such revenues to military support for Ukraine.

Of that amount, €1.1 billion will go toward purchasing arms for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while the remaining funds will follow the “Danish model” — direct procurement from Ukrainian manufacturers.

This is not the EU’s first investment in Ukraine’s defense sector. In August 2024, Brussels allocated €400 million to bolster Ukrainian arms production capacity.

EU Military Assistance to Ukraine

The European Commission first proposed directing €1 billion in proceeds from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine’s defense sector in November 2024.

That package formed part of a second tranche of military assistance, initially expected to total €1.5 billion but later increased by €600 million.

The EU allocated €1.5 billion in windfall proceeds from frozen Russian assets in July 2024. 90% of this money was channeled through the European Peace Facility to supply Ukraine with priority weapons.

The funding included, among other things, artillery ammunition and air defense systems. Another €400 million of this amount went to direct orders for the Ukrainian defense industry.