The US has handed over to Europe a plan to restore Ukraine and integrate Russia back into the global economy

The administration of the US President Donald Trump has in recent weeks handed over to its European counterparts a series of documents outlining their vision for the restoration of Ukraine and the return of Russia to the global economy.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

In particular, it discusses plans by American financial companies and other businesses to use approximately $200 billion in frozen Russian assets for projects in Ukraine. Among them is a huge new data center that will run on energy from the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

In another annex, the United States outlines a general concept for bringing the Russian economy out of isolation, under which American companies would invest in the extraction of rare minerals and oil drilling in the Arctic and help restore Russian energy supplies to Western Europe and the rest of the world.

Some European officials who have seen the documents said they were unsure whether to take some of the US proposals seriously. One compared them to US President Donald Trump’s vision of a Riviera-style complex in Gaza. Another, referring to proposed US-Russia energy deals, said they were an economic version of the 1945 conference where the victors of World War II divided up Europe.

European officials fear that the US approach will give Russia the respite it needs to revitalise its economy and strengthen its military might.

American officials involved in the talks say that Europe’s approach, which involves a reparations loan for Ukraine, would quickly exhaust the frozen funds. At the same time, the United States is proposing to involve the heads of large financial corporations and billionaires in investing and doubling that amount. One official involved in the talks even suggested that under American management the fund could grow to $800 billion.

What is known about the reparation loan?

The possibility of providing Ukraine with a €140 billion loan using frozen Russian assets has been discussed since early October. At that time, EU leaders were unable to agree on the loan — Belgium opposed it, and France and Luxembourg were concerned about the legal consequences.

The European Commission officially presented the idea of a reparations loan on December 6, and its details were revealed by Politico. This loan is to consist of €165 billion: €25 billion of frozen Russian state assets held in private bank accounts across the European Union, and €140 billion held in the Belgian financial institution Euroclear. The money is planned to be distributed as follows:

• €115 billion will be allocated to finance Ukraineʼs defense industry;
• €50 billion will cover Ukraineʼs budget needs;
• €45 billion will be used to repay the loan that the G7 provided to Ukraine in 2024.

Belgium is opposed to the loan, worried that Russia would sue it if the plan goes ahead, as the frozen assets are held in Belgiumʼs Euroclear. The Belgian prime minister has asked the other 26 EU countries to guarantee coverage of the legal and financial risks.

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Russia has prepared a response to the Westʼs possible "reparations loan" to Ukraine — it will nationalize foreign assets.

And on December 5, Bloomberg, citing sources among European diplomats, wrote that the United States had lobbied several EU countries not to use Russian assets for reparations loans for Ukraine. American officials convinced EU member states that these assets were needed to secure a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow, so they should not be used to continue the war.

On December 8, the G7 countries supported the use of frozen Russian assets for reparations to Ukraine and stated that they were ready to increase pressure on Russia if peace talks failed.

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