"We are now confident that we can provide this loan to Ukraine very quickly, a loan that is backed by the extraordinary revenues from the immobilised Russian assets," Von der Leyen said, speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
"This will provide you with significant and much needed fiscal space. You will decide how best to use these funds," she told Zelensky.
Ukraine is in desperate need of the funds as it tries to shore up its economy and keep its electricity grid running this winter after fierce bombardment by Moscow's forces.
The EU proposal, which must be signed by member states, is part of a larger plan agreed by G7 powers in June to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets to lend Kiev $50 billion.
Since the Kremlin began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has frozen about $235 billion of Russian central bank funds - the bulk of Russia's immobilized assets around the world.
About 90% of EU funds are held by Euroclear, an international depository organization based in Belgium.
The G7 plan aims to use the assets to get more funds to Ukraine and will replace the current EU scheme, which in July transferred $1.7 billion to Kiev.
There has been a delay in implementing the G-7 loan because the United States wanted assurances from the EU that Russian assets would remain frozen.
Currently, EU member states have to agree every six months to extend the asset freeze. Officials said Brussels now wants to extend the deadline to 36 months.
But the EU decided to go ahead with its part of the G7 loan after deciding that the assets offered sufficient guarantees even without the certainty that the freeze would be extended. | BGNES
