00:00More than 100 members of the European Parliament have called on EU leaders to reopen talks on using Russia's frozen
00:08assets to support Ukraine.
00:10It comes as Kiev flags a 23 billion euros shortfall in defense funding and EU countries remain reluctant to commit
00:18more money from their national budgets.
00:20The letter sent on Wednesday, seen by Euronews, argues Moscow should pay for the damage caused by its war, backing
00:29a renewed push started by four EU countries at the end of August to unlock the immobilized assets.
00:36The EU holds more than 200 billion euros in Russian assets, most of it in Belgium.
00:42The European Commission put forward a plan last December to convert them into a zero-interest loan to finance Ukraine's
00:50defense against Moscow's full-scale invasion.
00:54But EU countries failed to agree to unlock the funds amid fears over the legal risk, and the plan fell
01:01apart at the leaders' summit in Brussels.
01:04Earlier this year, the bloc gave the final green light to a 90 billion euro support loan for Ukraine.
01:09Still, MEPs warn that it will not be enough, with the estimated cost of Russian destruction already exceeding 600 billion
01:19euros.
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