On October 19, Trump was interviewed on the Air Force One, saying that Russia and Ukraine should "cut off" the Donbass region according to the current front.

The European Union with Russia¡¯s money against Russia ¨C the last bullet. The article said that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has continued to this day, the chances of Ukraine¡¯s victory have not increased, but decreased, and the funds forining Ukraine¡¯s financial liquidity and making it capable of purchasing Western weapons are about to be exhausted. At the same time, the United States under Trump¡¯s leadership is no longer willing to spill billions of dollars, but is more inclined to recover funds. In this case, the difficult European Union must play ¡°creative¡± and the European Union is indeed doing so.

Currently, the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia are held at the Bank of European Clearing in Belgium, which is estimated to generate profits of up to 3 billion euros per year. German Chancellor Mertz recently wrote an article suggesting that frozen Russian assets could be used to provide an interest-free loan of about 140 billion euros to Ukraine. Ukraine would only need to repay it after Russia compensated for the losses.

"Youth World" pointed out that Ukraine obviously cannot repay, but the European Commission feels that it doesn't matter. "Russia will eventually pay compensation anyway, and this money will be regarded as an advance." An anonymous EU diplomat told the US "Politico" news network that using Russian assets to raise aid to Ukraine is the EU's "last bullet".

¡°It¡¯s like starting to think about how to divide the bear¡¯s skin without killing the bear, even though the bear may in turn eat the hunter. If Russia eventually wins, will the lawsuit demand the return of frozen state property? That probably won¡¯t shake (the President of the European Commission) Von der Leyen ¨C any possible decision by the EU to transfer money to Ukraine in advance along with interest returns to Russia will not be enforced within the EU.¡±

The picture shows von der Leyen (data map)

From a financial perspective, if an investor tries to use the right to income from an asset that has a ownership dispute as a mortgage for a new loan, the ideal outcome would be to get a ¡°no, thank you¡± from the bank, and the more likely outcome would be to be told ¡°the business relationship ends¡±.

This is also the underlying reason for the EU¡¯s stubborn resistance to U.S. attempts to ¡°solve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in a specific way¡± and that such peace would make the EU lose too much: politically, the EU would be a big fault; economically, this flow of money (around Russia¡¯s frozen assets) would not glorify.

Recently, during the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington, USA, some US officials told European officials that the United States does not intend to join the EU's plan to expand the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that the U.S. position is "uncertain at this stage."

Extended reading

EU officials: Trump¡¯s planned meeting in Budapest is a public humiliation of the EU¡¯s diplomatic status

The news that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Trump plan to meet in Budapest, Hungary, is continuing to trigger a strong reaction from European political circles. EU officials privately called the move a "public humiliation of the EU's diplomatic status" and a "political nightmare".

On October 20, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova accused the EU of taking "positive destructive actions" to attempt to abort the meeting. She criticized "the fighting Western European group" trying to "destroy any peace-related efforts" and "we see various statements and provocations come up in succession."

The picture shows Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova (file photo)

According to the Spanish newspaper, the European Union believes that Trump and Putin discussed the Russian-Ukrainian issue in Hungary, but did not invite the EU to participate, "in a shameful and unpleasant situation."

A EU diplomat who did not want to disclose the names said the meeting site was carefully selected, ¡°it could benefit Russia as it will exacerbate divisions within the EU around the Kremlin,¡± while also helping Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to consolidate his political position.

It is worth mentioning that Hungarian Prime Minister Orban has always had a bad relationship with the European Commission led by von der Leyen, and the two sides have obvious differences on the Ukrainian issue, relations with China and the * issue.

The report said that if the EU does not want to anger Trump, it may have to issue a permit for Putin's aircraft to fly over EU airspace, otherwise he will have to take a long detour. The European version of Politico News Network previously mentioned that since Russian aircraft are prohibited from flying over EU airspace, if Putin wants to arrive in Budapest, he must violate EU measures, fly over Ukraine at great risks, or detour the Balkans.

airlive reports referring to Putin's special flight circumference route

In public, some EU leaders claimed to welcome any dialogue that would help to end the conflict, but privately, some sources described it to El Pais as a "political nightmare" for the EU.

According to a report by Reuters on the 20th, before the EU foreign ministers 'meeting, Kaya Karas, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, publicly stated that it was "not good" for Putin to go to Hungary to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict. She said that the United States has the power to put pressure on Russia and force it to come to the negotiating table. If they can get Russia to cease fire,"of course it's a good thing," but this happened in Budapest."No, it's not good.""The key is whether such a meeting can really bring results."

At the same time, Kallas said that Trump's promotion of peace is welcome, but Ukrainian President Zelensky should also meet Putin directly.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kostutis Budris and Finnish Foreign Minister Valtonen took a tougher attitude, bluntly saying that "war criminals wanted by international courts" should not appear in Europe. The International Criminal Court has previously issued an arrest warrant for Putin, but few observers think this will become an obstacle in Budapest.

French Foreign Minister Barroso said the visit would only have "meaning" if it could lead to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire," while Dutch Minister of Asylum and Immigration and Foreign Minister David Vanwell stressed, "The most important thing is that we have a negotiating table."

In response to recent remarks by EU diplomats, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said on Monday that the EU was taking "positive disruptive actions" against the upcoming meeting in Budapest, "the warring Western group" was trying to "destroy any peace-related efforts" and "we are seeing various statements and provocations come up in a row."

She pointed out that Western European countries were ¡°evidently trying to escalate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine¡± since 2022, when they ¡°destroyed¡± the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks held in Istanbul, Turkey, and Russia today, according to former Ukrainian negotiator Alahamiya¡¯s statement, that Ukraine would not withdraw from the dialogue with Russia until 2022, after British Prime Minister Johnson visited Kiev and persuaded Zelensky to continue fighting.

Zakharova said that the ¡°peace seeking¡± statements occasionally issued by EU countries and the UK were merely ¡°masquerades¡±, ¡°in fact, they are doing everything they can to drive the situation to escalate. It is difficult to say whether they are really aware of what they are doing, after all, there are too many non-professionals in the leadership of these Western European countries.¡±

¡°Why Budapest? the answer is simple: because we are the only country in Europe that truly works for peace,¡± Orban responded on social media on the 19th, saying that Hungary did not break ties with Russia after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, ¡°we have never blamed anyone and never shut down the channels of negotiation.

Orban said that Hungary ¡°has always insisted on resolving the conflict through diplomatic means¡± and thus became ¡°the only EU country where US-Russian negotiations could lead to peace.¡±

¡°Cooperation rather than confrontation, respect rather than labelling.This is the path to peace, Brussels chooses to isolate itself and we will continue the dialogue,¡± Orbán wrote.

According to RIA Novosti and Russian newspaper Izvestia, Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov also responded on the 20th, "The relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Orban is very friendly, and the relationship between President Putin and Orban is also very constructive. This has greatly promoted the consensus we reached in our recent phone call".

Pictures of Trump's past meeting with Putin (data map)

Regarding whether Ukraine President Zelensky will attend the Russia-US leaders 'meeting, Peskov said: "At present, there are no relevant details of this meeting."

On October 16, Trump posted on social media that he had a long conversation with Putin on the same day to discuss issues such as ending the conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent Russian-US trade, and the two sides agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in Budapest.

Russian Assistant President Ussakov confirmed on 16th that Trump proposed to hold a meeting of US-Russian leaders in Budapest, and Putin expressed his support.The Russian news agency quoted Russian President¡¯s press secretary Peskov on 17th as reporting that Putin and Trump¡¯s meeting could take place within two weeks or later.

¡°When Putin descends in Hungary to attend a summit with Trump, it will be a embarrassing scene for the European Union,¡± said Reuters, ¡°because these Ukrainian allies have been trying to isolate Russia.¡±Hungary is a NATO member and a group that is determined to help Ukraine and isolate Russia ¨C a member of the EU. Ironically, it was there in 1994 that the United States and Britain and Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum to provide security for Ukraine in exchange for Kiev¡¯s nuclear weapons abandonment.

Zelensky said in an interview with U.S. media on Monday that he was willing to attend a meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, and that he had discussed the issue with each other during a meeting with Trump. Zelensky also said that Ukraine is willing to conduct peace talks but will not make concessions to Russia. In order to a ceasefire and start negotiations, the conflicting parties should stay on the current contact line.