“I welcome the decision of the council on our proposal to continue the immobilization of Russian Sovereign Assets,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

The move means that roughly 210 billion euros ($245 billion) in Russian assets will now remain blocked in the EU until at least 15 countries representing over 55% of the EU’s population vote to lift the freeze.

Previously, the continued immobilization of the assets had to be agreed upon by all 27 member states every six months — leaving them vulnerable to a veto by Hungary or Slovakia, who had repeatedly threatened to vote against renewing the sanctions.

With that risk gone, the decision marks a step towards a so-called “reparations loan,” which would lend 90 billion euros ($105 billion) to Ukraine over the next two years, backed by the frozen assets.

The announcement comes just ahead of a European Council summit on Dec. 18–19 where EU leaders could unlock billions of euros in Russian assets to get critical financing to Kyiv for its war effort.

Von der Leyen proposed the plan on Dec. 3, which would cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs over the next two years. Without extra financing, Kyiv will run out of cash by mid-2026.

In what appeared as a response to reports of indefinite immobilization, the Russian Central Bank said in a press release that it had sued Euroclear, the Belgian financial institution holding the vast majority of Europe’s frozen assets, in a Moscow court on Dec. 12.

It also called the EU’s reparations loan “illegal” and “contrary to international law” in a different press release, also published on Dec. 12.

Most scholars agree that the reparations loan is a well-crafted policy response to Ukraine’s financing needs and Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine.

The Bank of Russia also said that it will proceed with “all available legal and other mechanisms” to challenge the reparations loan.

A legal memo from the prominent multinational law firm Covington & Burling, seen by the Kyiv Independent, states that litigation risk from the reparations loan is “minimal.”

“In reality, it would be well-nigh impossible for Russia to persuade an international court or tribunal to find and exercise jurisdiction over such a claim,” the document stated in reference to the proposed reparations loan.

The European Council’s decision addresses one of Belgium’s key concerns, which has expressed staunch opposition to the reparations loan initiative.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has worried that, should the EU go forward with the reparations loan initiative and the sanctions not be extended due to a veto, then Belgium would be on the hook to repay the Russian central bank for a third of its GDP.

De Wever has repeatedly called for other countries to share the risk of any fallout from the proposal. The official proposal for a reparations loan, presented by Ursula von der Leyen on Dec. 3, included assurances that countries would provide guarantees for the loan proportional to their gross national income.

Italy, Malta, and Bulgaria on Dec. 12 also reportedly joined Belgium in opposing the reparations loan, drafting a document that called on the European Commission to explore other options to getting Ukraine financing.

The vote to indefinitely immobilize sanctions with a majority of countries — rather than unanimity — was done using an emergency clause in the EU lawbooks, known as article 122, a move reportedly seen as controversial.

Friday’s attacks by Russian forces targeted Chornomorsk and Odesa ports in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian navy spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that three Turkish-owned vessels were damaged in total, but did not provide additional details.

Posting video footage on social media of firefighters tackling a blaze on board what he described as a “civilian vessel” in Chornomorsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian attacks “had no … military purpose whatsoever”.

“This proves once again that Russians not only fail to take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but also continue the war precisely to destroy normal life in Ukraine,” Zelensky stated.

“It is crucial that … the world maintains the proper moral compass: who is dragging out this war and who is working to end it with peace, who is using ballistic missiles against civilian life, and who is striking the targets that influence the functioning of Russia’s war machine,” he added.

Zelensky did not name the vessel, but it was identified as the Panama-flagged and Turkish-owned Cenk T by Reuters, which matched cranes and buildings to satellite imagery of Chornomorsk port.

The ship’s owners, Cenk Shipping, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm local time (14:00 GMT). There were no casualties among the crew, and damage to the ship was limited, it added.

An employee of a private company was also injured in a separate attack on Odesa port, where a cargo loader was also damaged, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba confirmed.

He added that Russia had used drones and ballistic missiles in the port strikes, which were “aimed at civilian logistics and commercial shipping”.

Ukraine’s three large Black Sea ports in the Odesa region are a key economic artery for Kyiv.

Late on Friday, Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the vessel had been attacked in Chornomorsk port. It added that there were no reports of injured Turkish citizens.

The ministry said in a statement that the attack “validates our previously stated concerns regarding the spread of the ongoing war in the region to the Black Sea, and its impact on maritime security and freedom of navigation”.

“We reiterate the need for an arrangement whereby, in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea, attacks targeting navigational safety as well as the parties’ energy and port infrastructure are suspended,” it added.

Hours earlier, in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for calm in the Black Sea and suggested that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial for regional security.

Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea coastline at approximately 1,329km (826 miles), has grown increasingly alarmed at the escalating attacks in its back yard and has offered to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

The attacks come just days after Putin promised retaliation and threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea” for Kyiv’s maritime drone attacks on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – unmarked tankers thought to be used to circumvent oil sanctions – in the Black Sea.

Kyiv says the tankers are Moscow’s main source of funding for its almost four-year-old war. It has also tried to squeeze Russian revenues by expanding attacks to the Caspian Sea, where it struck a major oil rig this week.

The European Commission hopes to pressure individual member states into approving the plan ahead of the European Council meeting on December 18-19.

However, some members, including Belgium, which holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets, have warned that seizing them could undermine trust in the EU’s financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose member states to legal risks.

According to Politico, the four countries announced that they “invite the Commission and the Council to continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law, with predictable parameters, presenting significantly fewer risks, to address Ukraine’s financial needs, based on an EU loan facility or bridge solutions.”

On Friday, the EU invoked its rarely used emergency powers to circumvent potential vetoes from Hungary and Slovakia and made the asset freeze indefinite.

Although Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta supported the measure, they reportedly stressed that the “vote does not pre-empt in any circumstances the decision on the possible use of Russian immobilized assets, which needs to be taken at leaders’ level.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Friday’s vote unlawful and accused the commission of “systematically raping European law.”

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also condemned the move, arguing that “providing tens of billions of euros for military spending is prolonging the war” between Ukraine and Russia.

Russia has stressed that seizing the assets would be tantamount to theft and vowed to retaliate. On Friday, the Russian central bank initiated legal proceedings against Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear, which holds the bulk of Russia’s foreign assets in Europe.