Live: French MPs debate resolution calling for seizure of billions of euros in Russian assets
Issued on: 12/03/2025 - 06:47Modified: 12/03/2025 - 17:04
French MPs on Wednesday debated a resolution calling on France and its allies to seize billions of euros in frozen Russian assets and use the funds to support Ukraine in both its resistance against Russia – and for its future reconstruction. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference he considered Ukraine’s acceptance of the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire “as positive and important” and that “we now hope Russia will respond constructively”.
French MPs are today debating a resolution urging France and its allies to provide more support for Ukraine, including by seizing tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets.
France has until now voiced opposition to seizing frozen Russian assets, arguing that such a move would be against international agreements in a stance that puts Paris at odds with its ally Britain.
If the non-binding resolution is adopted in a vote, that would pile pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister François Bayrou to change their position on the issue.
The draft resolution encourages the European Union to use the frozen Russian assets “to support the Ukrainian resistance and reconstruction of Ukraine”.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Russia’s missile strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa, which damaged a grain vessel and killed four people, is an attack on global food security.
“It demonstrates how close this war is to Algeria, Syria, and other countries,” Andrii Sybiha said on X, adding that the vessel was supposed to deliver wheat to Algeria.
A ballistic missile struck the MJ Pinar bulk carrier that was loading wheat for Algeria, killing four Syrian nationals and injuring one other Syrian and a Ukrainian, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.
Ukraine is currently awaiting Russia’s response to the US-proposed ceasefire, which was discussed during the peace talks in Jeddah.
While there is cautious optimism about the diplomatic progress, Ukrainians remains wary of Russia’s intentions and the true impact of any potential agreement.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres hopes the proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine “will materialise” and “pave the way for peace -- a just peace", he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
A widely-used online Ukrainian battlefield map appear to show that Ukrainian forces are no longer in control of the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.
The Deep State map, which is not an official government document and which claims to be updated by a team of Ukrainian users with publicly available data, appeared to show Kyiv’s forces had left the town in an area where Moscow has mounted an offensive and recaptured territory in recent days. According to the same map, fighting is continuing in the outskirts of the town, however.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson for the Kursk front declined to comment.
Sudzha is the largest settlement in a piece of Russian territory which Ukraine seized last August to act as a bargaining chip in any future negotiations regarding Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects strong measures from the United States if Russia rejects Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
“I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions (against Russia) and strengthening Ukraine,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said any ceasefire in Ukraine must be part of a process that leads to a “lasting agreement”, after Kyiv backed a US-proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
“Some things are very important and central — a ceasefire must be embedded in a peace process that leads to a lasting agreement,” Scholz told a press conference in Berlin alongside EU Council chief Antonio Costa.
Ukraine can discuss security guarantees with its partners after the implementation of a ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as the 30-day truce proposal still awaits a response from Russia.
“We will talk about security guarantees in more detail if there is a ceasefire for 30 days. These 30 days are meant to put on paper ... the steps we’ve agreed on with allies and the format of the security guarantees that will be in place in Ukraine after the end of the war,” Zelensky told a press conference in Kyiv.
Ukraine announced that it would back Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia following what Kyiv described as "significant" talks.
After more than eight hours of talks with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US would now present the mutually agreed proposal to Russia, leaving the next move up to Moscow.
During these discussions, the United States agreed to resume military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Watch FRANCE 24's international affairs editor Philip Turle and Kyiv correspondent Gulliver Cragg break down the Ukrainian reaction to the sudden push for a diplomatic settlement to the now three-year invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday hailed this week's meeting in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials as constructive, and said a potential 30-day ceasefire with Russia could be used to draft a broader peace deal.
Zelensky made the remark during a briefing in Kyiv, where he said Ukraine supported a US effort to end Russia's three-year-old invasion as soon as possible, and that the resumption of US military aid and intelligence sharing was very positive.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States will have contact with Russia on Wednesday about the agreement reached with Ukraine on a 30-day ceasefire and steps toward ending the war there.
"We all eagerly await the Russian response and urge them strongly to consider ending all hostilities," Rubio said during a stop in Ireland on his way back to Washington.
"If they say 'no,' then obviously we'll have to examine everything and sort of figure out where we stand in the world and what their true intentions are. If they say no, it'll tell us a lot about what their goals are and what their mindset is."
France and Britain remain committed to ensuring a "just and lasting" peace in Ukraine, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X.
Lecornu said he discussed Ukraine on Tuesday evening with his British counterpart John Healey on the sidelines of the Paris Forum on Defence and Strategy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that European allies will need to be involved in any eventual deal on Ukraine, which backed a US proposal for a 30-day truce with Russia.
"I think that they have to be necessarily involved," Rubio told reporters on a refuelling stop in Ireland, noting that Russia would seek removal of European sanctions imposed on it since the start of the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that an expected minerals deal would give the United States a "vested interest" in Ukraine's security, although he stopped short again of promising formal guarantees.
"I wouldn't couch it as a security guarantee, but certainly, if the United States has a vested economic interest that's generating revenue for our people as well as for the people of Ukraine, we'd have a vested interest in protecting it," Rubio told reporters on a refuelling stop in Ireland.
"Certainly one of the things that provides for Ukraine's long-term prosperity and security is vibrant economic growth and development," he said.
Russian troops seized the villages of Dniproenerhiia and Novomarkove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry.
Russian forces also hit a transport vessel carrying ammunition for Ukrainian forces, the agency said.
Moscow's gains in eastern Ukraine come as its forces are waging battles in Russia's western Kursk region in an effort to eject Ukrainian forces who seized land there last August.
Russian ballistic missiles killed at least five civilians in Ukraine, officials said Wednesday, a day after the Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion and Ukrainian officials signalled they were open to a 30-day ceasefire.
The Kremlin didn't comment on the agreement announced Tuesday between the US and Ukraine on the provision of further military support, including intelligence sharing, and the possibility of a ceasefire that Washington backs.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that it's important not to “get ahead” of the question of responding to the 30-day ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting “detailed information” about it from the US and suggested Russia must get that before it can take a position.
Russian forces retook five settlements held by Ukrainian troops in Russia's western Kursk region, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
One of the retaken villages, Kazach'ya Loknya, lies just north of Sudzha, which Russian forces have been storming since the weekend as they try to eject Ukrainians who have been clinging onto a slice of Kursk since last August.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday that military aid deliveries to neighbouring Ukraine through Poland have resumed following US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
"I confirm that arms deliveries via Jasionka (logistics hub) have returned to previous levels," Sikorski told reporters speaking alongside his Ukrainian counterpart in Warsaw, a day after US President Donald Trump's administration agreed to lift a freeze on military aid to Kyiv.
A Russian ballistic missile strike overnight on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed four people and damaged a Barbados-flagged cargo ship, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, four people died – citizens of Syria. At the time of the attack, the vessel was loading wheat for export to Algeria. It was a completely civilian vessel," Oleksiy Kuleba, vice prime minister for reconstruction wrote on social media.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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