European Union leaders have agreed to provide an interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs in its war with Russia for the next two years, EU Council President Antonio Costa has said.The leaders decided early on Friday to borrow cash on capital markets to fund Ukraine’s defence against Russia rather than use frozen Russian assets, diplomats said.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the EU for its loan to bolster the country’s looming budget shortfalls, saying it “truly strengthens” Kyiv’s defence.“This is significant support that truly strengthens our resilience,” Zelenskyy said on X. “It is important that Russian assets remain immobilized and that Ukraine has received a financial security guarantee for the coming years,” he added.“We have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros [$105.5bn] of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” Costa said in a post on social media early on Friday.Costa did not specify the source of the funding, which came after EU leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reach an agreement.But a draft text of the summit’s conclusions, seen by the Reuters news agency, said it would come from capital markets, secured against the EU budget, rather than the bloc proceeding with its contentious plan to use frozen Russian assets for a loan supporting Ukraine’s war effort.At the same time, EU governments and the European Parliament will continue discussin …
