Brussels, 5 August 2026 (dpa/MIA) - The European Union has received a further €1.4 billion ($1.62 billion) in windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the bloc, bringing the total of generated windfall profits to €8 billion.

"Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused. And we are using the proceeds from the immobilized Russian assets to make sure it does," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

"We are making a further €1.4 billion of them available to Ukraine. This will support Ukraine's continued resistance against Russia's illegal war," she said.

The Russian assets held in the EU were frozen under sanctions imposed over Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"While the assets themselves remain immobilised, the interest on the cash balances does not belong to Russia," the commission said in a press release.

The money will be provided to Ukraine through existing support measures, it said.

MIA file photo