European leaders met in Brussels this week to push through a Commission plan to lend roughly €210 billion of frozen Central Bank of Russia assets to the EU so funds can be lent to Ukraine as a reparations loan, following weeks of deadlock over the idea in which Viktor Orbán and Belgium resisted earlier proposals.Belgium remains the main holdout because Euroclear in Brussels concentrates about €180 billion of the frozen assets and Belgian politician Bart De Wever has demanded explicit, time-limited guarantees, collateral and capped liability amid reports of threats to Euroclear staff and pending legal action by the Central Bank of Russia.Negotiators led by António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen are pursuing legal engineering — capped guarantees, pooled liability, collateral and insurance — to limit exposure as leaders consider unanimity using the EU budget, a coalition of the willing, or a compromise that could avert a funding cliff for Ukraine in the first half of 2026.