LUXEMBOURG — The EU will urge its G7 allies to use Russian frozen assets to issue their own reparation loans to Ukraine when the group’s finance ministers gather in Washington next week, according to the bloc’s economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis.

“What we are discussing is the possibility for G7 members to apply a similar mechanism as reparations loans to Russian sovereign assets located in their territories,” the Latvian commissioner told reporters after a gathering of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg. “For example, U.K. and Canada have expressed interest following this European example.”

The EU is still negotiating the financial engineering needed to finance a €140 billion reparations loan, but political momentum for the initiative is gathering, as Ukraine faces a budget shortfall of billions next year. The International Monetary Fund estimates that this shortfall will grow to $65 billion over the next two years.

“It’s important that international donors, including also G7 donors … also contribute towards closing this financing gap,” Dombrovskis continued. “We’re expecting further discussion on those topics … during the IMF annual meetings next week.”

France, Germany, and Italy have already pressured the U.S. and Japan in virtual meetings to follow Europe’s example of using the cash value of frozen Russian assets to finance a loan to Kyiv.

Getting the world’s most powerful nations to act in unison would send a strong political message and avoid undermining the euro’s credibility on the world stage. Next week’s meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors offers Europe’s powers the chance to make their case again in person.