GENEVA 

The European Commission president on Friday announced that the EU has transferred over €1.5 billion (over $1.6 billion) to Ukraine using Russia's frozen assets, marking the first such use of the immobilized assets.

"The EU stands with Ukraine," said Ursula von der Leyen on X, where she made the announcement.

"There is no better symbol or use for the Kremlin’s money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live," she said.

Due to the sanctions adopted in early 2022, following Moscow's war on Ukraine, Russia is not entitled to obtain its extraordinary revenues, which is estimated to be around €210 billion across the bloc.