The initiative was put forward at the October 9 meeting by US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, the Financial Times reported, citing four sources. The talks included representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the EU and NATO.
According to the FT's interlocutors, the use of the frozen assets was discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement, with several options raised for how the funds might be handled after the war.
European officials at the meeting rejected the plan, saying they opposed transferring control over the assets to anyone and opposed returning any part of them to Moscow, according to the FT. One of the newspaper's sources described the Europeans' reaction this way: they were told this simply would not happen.
The Washington plan raised concern among European and Ukrainian representatives over questions about US intentions and its different approach to pressuring Moscow, the publication reported. The New York Times previously wrote that Washington offered Russia three economic incentives to induce it to accept a partial ceasefire. Among them was the unblocking of part of the assets frozen in the West. The money was viewed as an advance incentive for a truce rather than a reward for it taking effect.
Russian Central Bank assets worth roughly 260 billion euros were frozen by Western countries after the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. About 193 billion of that is held at the Belgian depository Euroclear. Income from those funds is being used to finance a loan to Ukraine of up to 50 billion euros. In December 2025, the EU approved an indefinite freeze of Russia's assets under a special procedure that does not require unanimity among all member states, until the war ends and Kyiv is compensated for damages.
According to the FT, unfreezing the assets would still require the unanimous consent of all EU member states. The publication notes that this will complicate the advancement of the Witkoff and Kushner initiative.