Several EU member states have opposed European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen's plan to use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine. This comes amid rumors that a proposal on frozen assets will be presented before the summit of EU leaders next week, Politico reports.

The main question is whether the money - about three billion euros - should be used to rebuild Ukraine or to buy ammunition for Kyiv.

Malta, Luxembourg and Hungary expressed reservations about the latter option during a meeting of 27 EU ambassadors on Wednesday, March 13, a European official told the publication. The three countries said that von der Leyen's proposal to use the money to replenish Ukraine's weapons arsenal complicated the negotiations, as there was a general agreement that the funds should be used for reconstruction.

It is worth noting that the issue of confiscation of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine is growing in importance due to the lack of new aid from the United States. In total, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Western countries have frozen about $300 billion of Russian assets. However, the G7 member states have been debating for more than a year about the possibility of confiscating the assets of the Russian Central Bank without undermining confidence in the global financial system.