The bloc’s executive arm now has a mandate to explore how to do this. And for now, the funds unlocked by the loan will be welcomed in Kyiv as it battles to hold off Russian battlefield gains while negotiating with Washington over a peace plan to end the war.

The loan would be backed by Russian central bank cash that has been sitting inside EU financial institutions and banks, frozen by economic sanctions the union slapped on Moscow in the early weeks of the war. The money would be paid back to Russia if Moscow ever agrees to compensate Ukraine for the destruction caused by its invasion.