EU's Borrell wants to use 90% of frozen Russian assets revenues to buy arms for Ukraine

He said he would submit the proposal to EU member states on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday. Borrell stressed the proposal was to use profits from the assets held in Europe rather than the assets themselves.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday he will propose that the EU uses 90 percent of the revenues from Russian assets frozen in Europe to buy arms for Ukraine via the European Peace Facility fund.

The EU's top diplomat told reporters in Brussels he would propose that the remaining 10 percent be transferred to the EU budget to be used to boost the capacity of the Ukrainian defence industry. He said he would submit the proposal to EU member states on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

Borrell stressed the proposal was to use profits from the assets held in Europe rather than the assets themselves. He said this could yield some 3 billion euros annually. "The concrete proposal will be tabled tomorrow," he said. "This is for member states to agree."