By Jo Harper
WARSAW (AA) - Poland will back all initiatives to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X Wednesday.
“We are determined to support all initiatives for the use of Russian money, so-called frozen assets, so that this money will finance help for Ukraine, now when it is fighting and in peacetime, when it will be rebuilt,” Tusk said.
The World Bank has estimated Ukraine's reconstruction and recovery to cost $486 billion.
Since February 2022, the US and its allies have blocked around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets, mostly government bonds in a European securities depository: $207 billion in euro assets, $67 billion in dollar assets, and $37 billion in UK gilts.
Moscow said it may agree to using the $300 for reconstruction in Ukraine if it is spent on the 20% of the country held by Russia.
Ahead of a video conference with the leaders of the 27 EU countries and the president of the European Council, Tusk also questioned the basis of a new world idea: "Uncertainty, unpredictability, agreements. Are these really the principles on which the new international order should be based?"
“Polish soldiers will not participate directly in the peacekeeping mission, or whatever we call it. However, Poland will be ready to provide all logistical assistance. This is what we are doing now, but on a larger scale, if necessary, so that the European peacekeeping mission with the support of the US is effective and well-organized,” he continued.
“We all hope for a quick end to the war, and Europe wants to have the most unambiguous position possible. Poland's position has been clear from the very beginning. Without Ukraine, its future cannot be decided.
"We cannot agree to Ukraine's capitulation in the face of - whatever you call it - Russia's brazen demands, including territorial ones. Europe must be united around its own vision of the future of Ukraine and our relations with Ukraine and Russia,” Tusk noted.