Yes, it is devastating!
There economy is growing only a little faster than England, Germany, and France. In a few more years they will be in real trouble. Or maybe not.
Posted on 12/19/2025 6:48:59 PM PST by delta7
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.
After almost four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027. The government in Kyiv is on the verge of bankruptcy, and desperately needs the money by spring.
The plan had been to use some of the 210 billion euros ($246 billion) worth of Russian assets that are frozen in Europe, mostly in Belgium.
The leaders worked deep into Thursday night to reassure Belgium that they would protect it from any Russian retaliation if it backed the “reparations loan” plan but in the end the leaders did not use that option, but as the talks bogged down the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.
“We have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” EU Council President António Costa said in a post on social media.
Not all countries agreed to the loan package. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic refuse to support Ukraine and opposed it, but a deal was reached in which they did not block the package and were promised protection from any financial fallout.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europea and describes himself as a peacemaker, said “I would not like a European Union in war.”
“To give money means war.” said Orbán. He also described the rejected plan to use the frozen Russian assets as a “dead end.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the deal was a major advance, saying that borrowing on capital markets “was the most realistic and practical way” to fund Ukraine and its war efforts.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also hailed the decision.
“The financial package for Ukraine has been finalized,” Merz said in a statement, noting that “Ukraine is granted a zero-interest loan.”
“These funds are sufficient to cover the military and budgetary needs of Ukraine for the two years to come,” Merz added. He said the frozen assets will remain blocked until Russia has paid war reparations to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that would cost over 600 billion euros ($700 billion).
“If Russia does not pay reparations we will — in full accordance with international law — make use of Russian immobilized assets for paying back the loan,” Merz said.
The best part? The EU now slides even further into bankruptcy....exactly what Vlad planned on....two birds with one stone. It now getting easier to see both cease to exist in their present forms.
Maybe they’re scared of Vlad.
““We have a deal. Decision to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) of support to Ukraine for 2026-27 approved. We committed, we delivered,” EU Council President António Costa said in a post on social media.”
What will be the Z-man’s cut?
Europeans give LOANS to Ukraine.
A
How many Billions Biden gave away free to Ukraine ??
Have you looked at what is happening to the Russian economy?
The joy of the usuals says all that needs to be 😎
So, what will be the interest rate on a Ukrainian War Bond backed by “immobilized” Russian assets that cover less then half the principal?
15%? 20%?
Who will buy them?
Yeah, LOAN.
Right.
And Ukraine will pay you back, EU, with interest!!!
And to further show their appreciation, They’ll provide every major Zoo with a breeding pair of Ukranian Unicorns.
“Have you looked at what is happening to the Russian economy?”
Ukraine just got 2/3rds of their budget for the next two years gifted to them (0% interest rate).
No one on Earth gives Russia a dime. They have to rent or coerce every temporary “friend” they have.
That can’t go on forever, with the liquid portion of the Russian National Wealth Fund petering out, Gold reserves 60% gone and being sold at an increasing rate, large deficits at every level of Government despite rising taxes without the ability to borrow enough to meet them, a banking system they forced to load with bad debt, now facing a growing wave of bankruptcies as the economy slips into negative growth despite a wartime economy program of doubling their money supply in an inflationary print and spend surge, while their oil and gas revenue now drops off a cliff, down 50% year over year.
Math will have its day.
“We committed, we delivered,” EU Council President António Costa said in a post on social media. “
Those paying attention know that NOTHING has been delivered yet except a different flavor of a promise.
“Ukraine just got 2/3rds of their budget for the next two years gifted to them (0% interest rate).”
No, they didn’t.
They got yet another promise from the EU.
Some items:
Ukraine has a $45B loan from the G-7 pending. That will be half of this new loan (sound familiar, Greece?)
As to the questions about “who is going to lend the EU this money, that is over and above its annual budget (aka deficit)” . . . why do guys not understand this? Where did the US get money to bail out assorted and sundry in 2009? Answer . . . the central bank. Our Federal Reserve. You need money and don’t have it and no one will lend it? That’s where you get it. (Oh, and where does the central bank get it? From thin air)
BTW Russia has a central bank, too. Isn’t that convenient?
Trump wants those frozen assets to fund a joint Russian/US investment program inside Ukraine. Maybe mostly inside eastern Ukraine. Maybe not. Regardless, the President didn’t want them tapped and behold . . . they didn’t get tapped.
So if money gets created from thin air, what actually does matter? Oil and gas, of course. But a third item . . . maybe more important than anything.
Neodymium magnets. China won’t sell to military buyers, like drone makers and that will be that for the quad rotor drones. They are allowing a trickle to start, to non military buyers like Ford. If they find those wound up at Raytheon, Ford will get cut off.
They do not withhold them from BRICS countries, btw.
Have you looked at what is happening to the Russian economy?
———————————
Have you looked at the casualty stats
25,000-30,000 KIA per month and about twice that in injured
So we now have two more years of death and destruction. 600,000 more KIA , two more years of rapidly increasing destruction in Ukraine, another 100 billion dollar hole that the Ukraine needs to dig itself out from before it can spend a penny on reconstruction and economic recovery
And all for what - to lose even more territory to Russia and probably lose Odessa and much of the Ukraine’s Black Sea access before they are forced to face reality and throw in the towel
It's a good time for the U.S. to get out of NATO. If these countries are bankrupting themselves into oblivion, they won't be able to fund 5% of their GDP for their own defense (most of them had trouble coming up with the original 2%), that they agreed to as a NATO member. The U.S. has already carried these a-holes financially for 80 years. Get the hell out Mr. President.
Get the money back from the Ukraine grifters.
All Ukr govt is on the take.
And the Brandon Junta that did this.
I only give a shit about America's economy. Ukraine, Russia and Europe can all go to hell.
Did you read the article that you posted?
Russia reported “balancing” its budget at a deficit of 2.6% of GDP.
Not a deficit of 2.6% of the budget, but a deficit of 2.6% of their entire National GDP.
That is just what they officially admit to, after the usual “massage” of the numbers.
A great deal (majority) of Russia’s expenditures that exceed its income however, are “off the books” liquidating reserves and simply forcing costs onto others within the country. Banks are forced to make otherwise unsupportable loans to Defense firms, that are forced to sell products to the Government below cost, Regional Governments are forced to pay the exorbitant enlistment bonuses to recruit soldiers for the National Military, inflation is pushed onto the population, driven by by massive money printing (doubling their money supply just since the 2022 invasion), etc..
The Russian Budget for 2025 was based on a revenue assumption based on $70/bbl for Urals Grade Crude Oil. It is now selling at $35 (below cost).
Their budget is far from balanced.
Betrayal requires loyalty from both sides. It’s impossible for the USA to betray the EU.
Yes, it is devastating!
There economy is growing only a little faster than England, Germany, and France. In a few more years they will be in real trouble. Or maybe not.
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