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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n European<\/a> Union leaders on Wednesday weighed a new scheme to provide longer-term financial and military support to Ukraine using hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets held in Europe.<\/p>\n The plan \u2014 which Moscow has described as \u201ctheft\u201d \u2014 is a fresh sign of the EU\u2019s determination to push ahead alone with support for Ukraine without the United States. Under President Donald Trump<\/a> the U.S. no longer sends financial aid to Ukraine, and little so far in the way of weapons.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around 130 billion euros ($153 billion). The EU has already poured in 174 billion euros since the war started in February 2022.<\/p>\n The biggest pot of ready funds available is through frozen Russian assets. Most of it is held in Belgium \u2013 around 194 billion euros as of June \u2013 and outside the EU in Japan, with around $50 billion, and the U.S., U.K. and Canada with lesser amounts.<\/p>\n The European Commission is working on a new \u201creparation loan\u201d which would be backed by the frozen assets, if the 27 member countries agree, but not all were onboard going into Wednesday\u2019s EU summit in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n Russia has warned against the move. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters Wednesday that the EU’s intentions \u201camount to plans to illegally confiscate Russian property \u2014 in Russian, we call it theft.\u201d<\/p>\n