Zelensky and De Wever meet in Brussels as Russian asset talks stall

During the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Bart De Wever met for about twenty minutes, concentrating on Russia's strikes against Ukraine's energy grid and Belgium's assistance in supplying fighter jets and ammunition to counter Shahed drones. Both parties' public statements omitted any reference to the €200 billion in Russian assets frozen by Euroclear in Belgium, a topic Zelensky was expected to press after De Wever opposed a similar proposal in December 2025.

Ukrainian officials have been urging Europe to tap those assets, and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha recently advocated this in an opinion piece. Zelensky later reiterated, in a post about his meeting with King Philippe, that the assets must stay blocked while the war continues. U.S. diplomats floated the idea of moving the assets to U.S. jurisdiction for negotiation leverage, but the proposal was widely rejected at the summit.