EU approves use of frozen Russian assets amid dire frontline situation

The European Unionon Tuesday approved a plan to use the profits generated by frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s recovery and military defense.

The move is meant to provide Kyiv with as much as €3 billion ($3.3 billion) this year, 90% of which will go to Ukraine’s military, wrote Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky on X (formerly Twitter). "Russia must pay for its war damages," he added.

The step comes as Ukrainian authorities report controlling 60% of the Kharkiv border town after Russian raids as the Kremlin intensifies its offensive in the east of the country.

"Currently the situation at the front is one of the most difficult, because a new Russian offensive has begun in the direction of Kharkiv. A very powerful wave [of fighting] is going on in Donbas," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters in his recent interview.

"No-one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar," he added. Since the beginning of May, Russian troops have continued advancing in the east of Ukraine.

Asked about Zelenskyy's interview, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said some Ukrainian officials including Zelenskyy have been sometimes "slipping into hysteria" over recent days "due to the extremely unfavourable position of the forces of the Kyiv regime at the front."