A preliminary hearing of the Russian central bank's lawsuit against the Belgium-based Euroclear is scheduled for January 16 next year as Russia moves to seek damages from European banks for illegally freezing and using its assets.
In a statement released by its press service on Thursday, the Bank of Russia said it will claim damages from European banks in a Russian arbitration court for the illegal blocking and use of its assets.
On Monday, the bank filed a lawsuit against Euroclear, which holds a large amount of frozen Russian assets, seeking over 18 trillion rubles (about 230 billion U.S. dollars) in damages.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that any disposal of Russian sovereign assets without the consent of the Russian Federation—whether through indefinite freezing, confiscation, or attempts to disguise the de facto confiscation as some form of so-called "compensation loan"—is absolutely illegal and is a serious violation of international law.
The European Commission published a plan on Dec 3 to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, reducing the funding amount from up to 186 billion U.S. dollars to around 105 billion dollars.
Preliminary hearing of Russian central bank's lawsuit against Euroclear scheduled for Jan 16
Russia said on Thursday that its armed forces had struck over 100 targets in Ukraine, while Ukraine reported, on the same day, that it had repelled offensives from Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in its latest report that over the past 24 hours, its forces had conducted strikes on 149 areas, including energy infrastructure serving the Ukrainian forces, assembly workshops and storage points for long-range attack drones, and temporary deployment sites of Ukraine's armed forces and foreign mercenaries. They also destroyed Ukrainian armored vehicles, field artillery, and ammunition depots. Additionally, the Russian air defense system shot down 216 fixed-wing drones belonging to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that its troops engaged in 134 combat clashes with Russian forces in the past day. They repelled dozens of Russian attacks in areas such as Pokrovsk. Their air, missile, and artillery units struck one Russian warehouse, one control point, and two major targets, and shot down 330 Russian tactical drones.
In another development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that a Ukrainian delegation is en route to the United States to continue peace negotiations.
The talks with the U.S. negotiating team are set to take place on Friday and Saturday, with European representatives also expected to participate, Zelensky told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
He highlighted that the key points of contention between Ukraine and the United States include territorial issues and the use of frozen Russian assets.
Zelensky said that, should a peace agreement be reached in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine plans to use the frozen assets for reconstruction efforts. However, if hostilities persist, the funds may be directed toward supporting the Ukrainian military, bolstering defense production, and purchasing U.S.-made air defense missiles, he added.
Russia strikes over 100 targets in Ukraine, Ukraine reports repelling Russian offensives
