Use Russian assets to blunt voter backlash over funding Ukraine, Kyiv says

BRUSSELS — The EU should use frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv’s defense, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that doing so would counter claims from the far right and far left that Europe is footing the bill for the war. “Russia, not European taxpayers, must be the first to pay for the damage it has caused and continues to cause,” Sybiha wrote in an opinion piece for POLITICO . Using the assets would reassure “skeptical audiences across Europe” ahead of a year of major elections, Sybiha said, in a nod to votes in countries including France and Italy in 2027.