Member Of Parliament at Verhovna Rada of Ukraine
Feb 4, 2025
We are closely monitoring the statements of Donald Trump and his team regarding Ukraine.
Firstly, will the United States continue to assist us with weapons and ammunition? Secondly, will Washington force Kyiv into negotiations, or how else will the new American president end the war as promised?
The issue of confiscating frozen russian assets pertains to both of these points.
Most russian funds are currently in the Belgian depositary Euroclear, so any actions involving them depend on the cooperation between the US and the EU. Unfortunately, three years of work by Ukrainian diplomacy and officials at all levels have not convinced Europe to confiscate those funds. One model that might finally work is for the US to supply weapons to Ukraine, but the payment would come from the frozen russian assets. Equally important is whether these assets will not be considered as bargaining elements in negotiations with russia.
We do not yet know what will be decided in the White House, but we must focus at least on ensuring that this money is not unfrozen and returned to moscow. This effort should involve working with both Republicans and Democrats while maintaining momentum with European partners.
Obviously, it won’t be simple, but we have already learned that nothing is impossible.
Ми пильно стежимо за заявами Дональда Трампа і його команди стосовно України.
Найперше — чи будуть США і далі допомагати нам зі зброєю і боєприпасами? Друге — чи буде Вашингтон примушувати Київ до перемовин, або яким ще чином новий американський президент буде завершувати війну, як обіцяв?
Питання конфіскації заморожених російських активів стосується обох цих пунктів.
Більшість російських коштів зараз — в бельгійському депозитарії Euroclear, тому будь-які дії з ними залежать від взаємодії США та ЄС. На жаль, три роки роботи української дипломатії та діячів на всіх рівнях так і не переконали Європу конфіскувати ці гроші. Одна з моделей, яка нарешті може подіяти: США постачатимуть Україні зброю, але оплата за неї йтиме з заморожених активів рф. Не менш важливо, чи не будуть ці активи розглядатись, як елемент торгу в перемовах з рф.
Що вирішать у Білому домі, ми поки не знаємо, але мусимо сконцентруватись хоча би на тому, щоб як мінімум ці кошти не були розморожені і повернуті москві. Це має бути робота як з республіканцями, так і з демократами, при цьому не збавляючи темпів з європейськими партнерами.
Очевидно, що просто не буде, але ми вже знаємо, що неможливого не існує.
Comment from :
Stephen Vaughan
Trump seems to be erratically playing the shock therapy economics game with everyone at the moment, what with threats of tarrifs, making it very hard to see what his real intentions are. Either he has a cunning plan to screw the rest of the world or he is completely of his rocker.
If the former, then the rest of us are in for a very tough game of chess. Something that Ukraine and the rest of Europe really doesn’t need right now.
David Onstenk
Re David Ostenk’s comment, one might equally ask: “why is America failing to do for Ukraine what it did for Europe in WW2?”
America in fact decided to sit it out in WW2, leaving Britain alone to fight the Molotov-Ribbentrop axis powers. It was run by an isolationist Stalin sympathizer, who also had to contend with a far right Hitler-supporting faction led by Charles Lindbergh, whose motto was : “America First.”
America only got involved when Germany and Japan declared war upon it.
We can safely say that putler won’t make the same mistake. We can also safely say that Trump, like his predecessors Obama and Biden, feels no compunction to honour the Budapest Memorandum.
We live in terrible times.
Nope. The Empire is kicking ass, from Denmark to Canada! Ukraine is unfortunately in a terrible situation, but the rest of us can force Donald to support.
Isn’t that photo tragic and terrible to see?
Those were real people’s homes, where the owners raised children, sat down for dinner with their friends and loved ones, drank wine, laughed, played games and made love.
All ruined by fiends.
Seeing that in real is even worse…