Justice Minister names the amount Ukraine needs to win the war

Justice Minister Denys Maliuska said in comments to the US publication Politico that the annual package of three billion euros taken from the profits from frozen Russian assets is "almost nothing" in the context of Ukraine's war needs.

If we talk about Ukraine's needs and the needs of war, military and non-military, three billion euros is really almost nothing. We need hundreds of billions to win the war," the minister said.

He added that Ukraine is offered an amount of 2.5 to 3 billion euros per year just for the purchase of weapons.

At the same time, Maliushka clarified that Russian assets are "a good first step" to finance Ukrvina's needs as the country fights and recovers.

The justice minister recalled that since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has blocked more than 200 billion euros of Russian state assets. According to some estimates, most of these assets are located in financial institutions on the territory of the European Union countries, particularly in Belgium.

Maliuca stressed that the seizure of this money is a legal step and the West can use this money to rebuild Ukraine.

He specified that the West will freeze up to 300bn dollars of Russian assets. However, he noted that according to some analysts, this amount could be much higher - up to one trillion dollars.

Earlier, EU permanent representatives voted on 8 May in favour of using the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's renewal and its military defence against Russian aggression.