The Briefing
- Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever held firm to his veto at the October 15-16 EU summit in Brussels, blocking any agreement to deploy the roughly €185 billion in Russian central bank assets held at Euroclear toward Ukraine's war effort.
- Ukraine faces an unresolved $78 billion external financing gap for 2027 — $45 billion for military operations and $32.6 billion to keep civilian government functions running — even as the EU declared 2026 needs fully covered.
- Russia's legal counteroffensive has escalated: a Moscow court ordered Euroclear to pay approximately $249 billion on May 15, and Euroclear responded by filing its own suit in Brussels on June 30.