EU leaders have agreed in principle to commandeer a large majority of the profits generated from frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine.

The proposal could generate €3bn (£2.6bn) this year and the first billion could be released to Ukraine by July, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said late on Thursday at the end of the first day of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.

“I told the leaders that if we are swift now in concluding the proposal, we could disburse the first billion on the first of July. So it depends on us,” she said, adding there was strong support to use the proceeds on “military purposes for Ukraine.”

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