EU has frozen 13.8 billion euros of Russian assets over Ukraine war, says official

Seventy-year-old pensioner Valerii Ilchenko, who lives alone, refuses to vacate his apartment in Kramatorsk. “What would I do there? Here at least I can sit on the bench, I can watch TV,” he said. Pic/AP

The European Union has so far frozen 13.8 billion euros ($13.83 billion) worth assets held by Russian oligarchs, individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow's war against Ukraine, the bloc's top justice official said on Tuesday. The official said the vast majority of that comes from five of the EU's 27 member states only. The bloc currently has 98 entities and nearly 1,160 individuals blacklisted for Russia's role in Ukraine.

"For the moment, we have frozen funds coming from oligarchs and other entities worth 13.8 billion euros, it's quite huge," EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said on Tuesday. "But a very large part, more than 12 billion comes from five member states so we need to continue to convince others to do the same," he said in Prague and did not identify the five countries.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the United States on Tuesday for its "incredible support" after Ukraine received a further $1.7-billion in international financial assistance. Shmyhal confirmed receipt of a grant which he said on Saturday would come from a Single-Donor Trust Fund created by the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction, the International Development Association and the US Agency for International Development. At least 12 people were wounded in shelling in Ukraine's city of Mykolaiv overnight, the regional governor said on Tuesday.

Donbas attack death toll rises

The death toll in a collapsed apartment block in the Donetsk region town of Chasiv Yar climbed to 35 on Tuesday, with rescue work still not over four days after it was hit by Russian rocket fire, emergency services said.

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