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.

As Europe scrambles to boost military aid to Ukraine, calls are intensifying to fund it by seizing tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets, in an issue causing tension between European allies.

France's Finance Minister said Tuesday that his country was opposed to seizing frozen Russian assets to fund military aid for Ukraine, arguing the move would violate international agreements. Tapping into more than 200 billion euros ($216 billion) in frozen Russian assets has been proposed as a way to bridge the large gap in defense budgets as