Ukraine's military and economic needs. Ukraine is months from running out of cash and Zelensky said without an injection by spring Ukraine "will have to reduce production of drones". Most of Russia's €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear. Until now Belgium and some other member states have said they are opposed to using the cash as a "reparations loan". Russia has warned EU leaders not to use its money, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said they had to "rise to this occasion".

The Brussels summit comes at a pivotal moment in the war and Russia has filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in a Moscow court in a bid to get its money back. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has said "we will not leave the summit without a solution". One European government official described being "cautiously optimistic, not overly optimistic" that a deal would be agreed.

All eyes are on Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who told the Belgian parliament on Thursday that if everything was nailed down and shared by the rest of the EU, "then we'll jump into the abyss together with the rest of the Europeans and hope the parachute holds us".  Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said a deal is closer than ever to end the war - which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.S and Russian officials are due to meet in Miami this weekend for further talks on a peace plan, a White House official has told AFP news agency. It is thought Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev will talk to Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami.

Ukrainian officials are also heading to the US, and President Zelensky, who is in Brussels, said Kyiv needed the money, either to support its army if the war continued, or to direct the funding entirely for recovery: "It's moral, it's fair and it's legal, confirmed by the expertise of many, many professionals." (BBC)