Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on EU leaders at the opening of their two-day summit in Brussels on March 21 to "progress on the issue of fair use of Russia's frozen assets."
"This year, we must use Russian assets to protect and restore life in Ukraine, which is being destroyed by the aggressor. This is fair,” he said.
Ukraine's European supporters have been discussing the use of profits on frozen Russian assets to finance arms purchases for Kyiv. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that the “windfall” from billions of euros in profits from the frozen assets would support arms purchases.
The EU leaders had previously only considered using the profits to support the reconstruction of Ukraine. However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last week the main issue in Ukraine now is not so much reconstruction, but rather avoiding further destruction.”
Borrell said he would propose that 90 percent of the revenues from Russian assets frozen in Europe be used to buy arms for Ukraine under the European Peace Facility fund. The remaining 10 percent would be transferred to the EU budget to be used to boost the capacity of the Ukrainian defense industry.
The proposal would require the approval of all EU member states.
Zelenskiy also called on his European colleagues to "invest in Ukraine's production of drones, provide more ammunition, which is currently in short supply at the front, and help protect Ukrainian cities from Russian air strikes."
Existing air defense systems are not enough to protect the entire territory of Ukraine from Russian air strikes, he said, adding that the number of air defense systems needed is “achievable.”
Zelenskiy also told the summit that allowing Russia to continue selling grain in the European Union while capping imports from Ukraine was unfair.
"Russian access to the European agricultural market is still unrestricted," Zelenskiy said, speaking over video link.
"When Ukrainian grain is dumped on roads or railway tracks, Russian products are still taken to Europe, as well as goods from...Belarus. It's not fair,” Zelenskiy said, referring to the dumping of Ukrainian grain from rail transport wagons last month in Poland. “It is even more unfair when someone tries to destroy systemic trade solutions that have existed for years and work to support the whole of Europe," Zelenskiy said.
The 27-nation bloc dropped tariffs on Ukrainian imports at the beginning of the war in a bid to help keep the country's economy afloat, but the moves have drawn fierce protests from EU farmers who complain they are being undercut by lower-cost imports from Ukraine.
While the EU has taken aim at other parts of Russia's economy through sanctions, it has avoided targeting the farm or fertilizer sectors over fears of destabilizing the global cereal market and undermining food security in Asia and Africa.
But EU member states and lawmakers on March 20 reached a deal to cap duty-free imports of a range of Ukrainian farm goods and the European Commission said last week it was also looking at restrictions on Russian farm imports.
Five European Union nations -- Poland, Czech Republic, and all three Baltic states -- urged the bloc to impose a full ban on grain imports from both Russia and Belarus.
"As members of the EU, we believe it is imperative to fulfil our moral obligation to halt any trade activities that could potentially bolster" Russia and Belarus, the nations' farming ministers said in a joint letter.