One of the mechanisms Europe has at its disposal to make up the shortfall of American backing is to fully seize frozen Russian assets held in the region.

President Trump’s threat to abandon Ukraine added urgency to plans to fund security or reconstruction with the roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank.

With President Donald Trump's suspension of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, European nations are again looking at how to utilise some $300 billion of Russian state assets frozen by the Group of Seven rich democracies after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.