The EU has been stymied in using €140 billion in frozen Russian reserves to finance a reparation loan to Ukraine, thanks to resistance from Belgium.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris in a show of support as he faces fierce pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to make concessions to end the war.

He said the peace plan put forward by the U.S., which originally included territorial concessions and limits on the size of Kyiv’s army, had “improved.”

“The process is not over, the territorial question is the hardest,” he said. The original plan called for Ukraine to give up some of its key defensive positions in the east of the country; Zelenskyy has also insisted that Ukraine’s constitution doesn’t allow him to hand over chunks of the country to Russia.

Zelenskyy underlined that any peace deal has to include security guarantees to protect Ukraine against another Russian attack.

“Peace must become truly durable,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington first wants a peace deal before any talk of offering Ukraine security guarantees. The original 28-point plan prepared by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev excluded allowing Ukraine to join NATO.

The Macron-Zelenskyy summit took place on the eve of a Moscow meeting between Witkoff, a real estate tycoon and Trump ally, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I believe the visit will be very useful, as it will focus on outlining a peace settlement for Ukraine,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Pressure on Kyiv

Europeans are fearful that the U.S. will pressure Ukraine to sign an unfavorable peace deal with Russia at a time when Zelenskyy is politically weakened following the resignation of his top aide, Andriy Yermak, who was caught up in a wide-ranging corruption probe. 

“I am afraid that all the pressure will be directed at the victim … to make concessions,” the EU’s diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday. 

Zelenskyy, Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also held a call with Witkoff and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, according to an Elysée official. They also exchanged views with other European leaders ahead of Witkoff’s meeting in Moscow.

“Witkoff will bring what was discussed in Geneva and Florida,” said a European diplomat, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, mentioning earlier meetings that watered down some of the more pro-Russian aspects of the initial 28-point plan. “But we really have to see if he goes directly with what we discussed or will be talking about something different.”

In Brussels, where EU defense ministers were meeting on Monday, several of them insisted that continued military support to Kyiv was crucial, including by using Russia’s frozen assets. 

“Ministers agreed we need to agree on the funding options as a matter of urgency,” Kallas told reporters after the Foreign Affairs Council. “We need to work on the legislative proposals to work on all the risks and mitigate all the risks and share the burden regarding those risks, but we definitely need to move on.” 

Ahead of the gathering, Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson called for more sanctions on Russia as well as the use of the Russian frozen assets to allow Ukraine to “negotiate from a position of strength.” 

On the sidelines of the gathering, the Netherlands announced a €250 million contribution to the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List initiative for Ukraine — a NATO-backed scheme that has European allies paying for U.S. weapons to be sent to Ukraine. The money will be used to purchase U.S. air defense systems and ammunition for F-16 jet fighters.

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans and his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, signed a deal to co-produce drones in both countries. 

The European Commission also said that 15 member countries out of the 19 that had requested money under the EU’s €150 billion SAFE loans-for-weapons scheme had included support for Ukraine in their plans, involving “billions, not millions.” 

“We made a decision to contribute at least 0.25 percent of GDP for aid to Ukraine and are looking at SAFE to do even more,” Latvia’s Deputy Defense Minister Liene Gātere told reporters. “We’re calling on other European countries to step up and do the same.”