COPENHAGEN — The British government is considering funding a new wave of loans to Ukraine with billions of pounds of Russian state assets frozen in the U.K.

The country’s finance minister, Rachel Reeves, presented the controversial plan, which could mirror a similar plan floated by the European Union, to EU finance ministers at a ministerial meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday.

Reeves did not announce specific details on how the plan would work, but insisted the loans would be in line with international law and would not involve permanently confiscating Russian state assets.

While the lion’s share of Russian assets — €185 billion — is frozen in the EU at Belgium-based depository Euroclear, around £25 billion is held in the U.K.

This £25 billion would fund the U.K. “reparations loan” scheme, which the country’s finance ministry said would “work in lockstep” with the EU program. It added that the proposals “under consideration” could “unlock financing up to the full value of the assets held in the U.K.”    

Under a proposed EU scheme, Brussels would issue up to €172 billion in loans to Ukraine by swapping Russian cash linked to the immobilized Russian assets for zero-interest bonds.  

The EU hopes that, by replacing the cash with EU-backed IOUs, the proposal would avoid accusations of confiscating the money outright. But Euroclear, the private depository holding the Russian assets, has warned against any policy that would expose it to legal risk or compromise financial integrity.

Reeves said on Saturday that the U.K. “will only consider options in line with international law and that are economically, and financially responsible.”

Europe is scrambling to drum up more financing for Ukraine which faces a budget shortfall next year.

A G7-brokered €45 billion loan to Ukraine has been almost fully paid out. Until now, the EU has been using the interest generated by investing the immobilized Russian assets to repay its share of the loan, but the question of drawing on the underlying assets has divided leaders.

Under the EU scheme, Ukraine would only have to pay back the loan once Moscow pays for war reparations, which is seen as unlikely.

The European Central Bank opposes seizing the frozen assets outright and appears to have misgivings about the EU’s “reparations loan” plan as well. Speaking on Friday at a press conference in Copenhagen, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said: “Our concerns have been expressed in the past [and] remain the same.”

“On a matter that is as sensitive and can be as complicated as this one … I want to see something in writing, but I’m not the only one. I think all member states involved in the process will want to see something in writing,” Lagarde said.