Context: EU leaders are trying to reach a deal on how to use Russian assets frozen in European Union countries and to provide Ukraine with a €140 billion reparations loan.
A brief post about Ukraine’s loan arrangements with the EU appeared on November 26, 2025, on the Belarusian_silovik Telegram channel:
“Politico writes that the EU may demand that Ukraine pay back its interim loan.”
The Weekly Top Fake team found the Politico article the Telegram channel referenced. It does mention repayment, but not in the way the post suggests: “Two diplomats said Ukraine could be asked to repay the initial bridging loan to the EU, once it has received funding from the long-term reparations loan,” the story notes.
A long-term reparations loan is a mechanism for using Russian state assets frozen in the European Union for Ukraine’s benefit. Belgium, where most of these assets are held, opposed confiscating the money over potential legal repercussions. The European Commission proposed structuring it instead as a loan to war-hit Ukraine, backed by the revenue generated from those assets. In other words, the EU would not seize the assets themselves but borrow an amount equivalent to the value of Russia’s frozen funds. Kyiv would have to pay the money back only after Moscow ends the war and agrees to compensate for the damage it caused — which is why the loan has been labeled “reparations.”
A final decision on the plan has yet to be made, and Ukraine will need funding much sooner. That’s what prompted the idea of an interim loan for Ukraine. The EU would lend Kyiv the money now on the condition that it repays the debt later using Russian funds once they become available. The Belarusian Telegram channel failed to mention that the discussion concerns Russian reserves and that no one is demanding Ukraine pay back previously issued loans while it is defending itself.
