Poland points to risk of Trump's refusal to extend credit to Ukraine

US President-elect Donald Trump may refuse to participate in the project on granting Ukraine a $50bn loan with repayment from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. This was announced by Polish Deputy Finance Minister Pawel Karbownik on Thursday, December 5.

According to the deputy minister, in case Trump refuses, the European Union (EU) will compensate Kiev for the promised financial support, but the newly elected American leader should inform about his intentions in advance.

"We will take measures as the EU to guarantee that $50 billion will go to Ukraine regardless of Trump," Politico newspaper quoted him as saying.

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The day before, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that $50 billion from Washington and European Union countries would begin to flow to Kiev in the coming weeks, through profits from frozen Russian assets.

Ukraine on Dec. 4 signed a memorandum of understanding and a loan agreement with the European Union to attract €35 billion in aid to Kiev, which are part of an initiative by the G7 countries on a mechanism for additional loans to boost the country's budget revenues. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal also reported on November 28 that the EU had signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine for the first part of the €18.1bn loan with repayment from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

Prior to that, on November 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term expired on May 20) called the Russian assets frozen by the West as Ukrainian money. He also called for finding a mechanism to transfer them to Kiev as soon as possible.

In June, the G7 countries promised in the final statement of the summit in Italy's Puglia that they would provide Ukraine with loans worth about $50 billion by the end of 2024, with repayment from the proceeds of Russian assets. In late October, the G7 leaders reached an agreement on the details of the loan. Reuters reported that at a meeting on November 26 in Italy, the foreign ministers of the G7 states said again that they expect to start distributing the funds by the end of the year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov, commenting on the possible transfer of proceeds from immobilized Russian assets to Ukraine, emphasized back in August that these steps were illegal and would have consequences.