European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday that the European Union would grant Ukraine a loan worth up to 35 billion euros ($39.06 billion) to help it withstand the war it is waging with Russia, while Moscow said that the European Union had “lost its mind.” "And he is taking a destructive path by allocating additional funds to support Kiev.

Von der Leyen announced the loan during a visit to Kiev, part of a broader plan among the Group of Seven major industrialized countries to raise funds from the proceeds of Russian assets that it has frozen to punish Russia for its attack on its neighbour.

Von der Leyen said in a post on “X”, “Continued Russian attacks indicate Ukraine’s need for continued support from the European Union.”

Von der Leyen announced yesterday, Thursday, that 160 million euros ($179 million) in proceeds from frozen Russian assets will be transferred to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Ukraine for this winter.

According to a letter from the German Finance Ministry seen by Reuters, Germany is scheduled to agree to allocate approximately 400 million euros ($450 million) in additional military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. These funds are in addition to about 8 billion euros allocated to Ukraine in 2024.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reiterated her assertion that the European Union has lost its independence and become subject to Washington's goals, saying that Brussels is losing all its authority in this process. She said, “Now the European Union has lost its mind and paralyzed its will in order to continue the confrontational and suicidal path towards the bloc... This is a path to escalate tensions with Russia.”

She added about financing this with the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets, “They steal everything... real estate, movables, sovereign assets... Money laundering from these illegally acquired properties is happening literally before our eyes and they will launder it by buying weapons for Ukraine.”< /p>

Ukraine faces huge financial needs more than two years after the start of the violent war that destroyed its infrastructure. Russia deprived Ukraine of energy infrastructure that provided about nine gigawatts of energy.

The G7 froze about $300 billion in Russian financial assets shortly after its attack on Ukraine in 2022. It pledged to use the proceeds to help its ally, but needed months to discuss how to do so.

Last May, the European Union reached an agreement between member states under which 90 percent of the proceeds would go to a fund managed by the Union to supply Ukraine with military aid, with the remaining 10 percent going to support Kiev in other ways.

Assets generate exceptional interest because they are frozen, which leads to so-called unaccounted profits. Diplomats expect Ukraine to receive the first batch in July.