UK to boost Ukraine funding using £2bn from Russian assets

BBC:

The UK government will give an extra £2.26bn ($2.93bn) to Ukraine, using the profits from seized Russian assets held in Europe.

It forms Britain’s contribution to a £38bn ($50bn) fund announced in June by members of the G7 group of leading economies.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the new money will help Ukraine bolster its frontline military equipment. He described it as “turning the proceeds of Putin’s own corrupt regime against him, by putting it into the hands of Ukraine”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the aim was to release the money as quickly as possible.

The funds will be made in the form of a loan – with the UK recouping the cost from profits of seized Russian assets – “within the correct legal framework”.

Reeves made it clear that the UK was not confiscating sovereign Russian assets in Europe, but using the profits and interest accrued from them.

Other G7 countries have pledged to do the same and are expected to finalise their contributions in the coming weeks.

The payments to Ukraine are expected to be made in tranches, rather than all at once. Some nations expect some of the money to go towards Ukraine’s reconstruction.

But the UK government has said it is up to Kyiv on how it spends the UK’s contribution.