Overview: EU wants to use frozen assets to rebuild Ukraine, Donbas ‘completely destroyed’
These are the main developments from Thursday evening and the night from Thursday to Friday:
The European Union will investigate how the frozen Russian assets can be used to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. That’s what the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen Thursday evening against the German broadcaster ZDF. She believes that “Russia should also make its contribution”. According to her, lawyers are now looking at how the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs can be used. The US and Europe have already seized about USD 30 billion (EUR 28.4 billion) in Russian assets.More than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers from the steel factory Azovstal in Mariupol have surrendered to Russian forces since the beginning of this week. This was reported by the Russian authorities, according to the AP news agency, and the British intelligence† At least some of the soldiers are said to have been transported to Russian prison camps. The injured are said to have been admitted to hospitals, although it is not clear how many. It is unknown how many soldiers are still hiding in the Azovstal factory.The Ukrainian Donbas Region has been “completely destroyed,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message late Thursday night. He accused Russia of carrying out senseless bombing campaigns. “In the Donbas, the occupiers are trying to exert even more pressure. It’s hell there – and that’s no exaggeration,” Zelensky said, according to Reuters news agency.It budget deficit in Ukraine has risen to about 5 billion dollars (4.7 billion euros) a month as a result of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian president said in the video message. Zelensky thanked the United States for the additional $40 billion in military aid, which the US Senate approved on Thursday. He also thanked the EU for the EUR 9 billion in aid pledged on Wednesday.