Ukrainians and their supporters are holding rallies across dozens of countries from 22 to 24 August, marking 35 years of Ukrainian independence with four demands—including that Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
Among the rallies listed by ICUV are:
- Saturday, 22 August: Seoul—Seoul Plaza, 17:00.
- Sunday, 23 August: Linköping—Stora torget, 16:30; Basel—Wettsteinbrücke, 15:00.
- Monday, 24 August: Sydney; Lyon—Place Bellecour, 18:00; Nantes; Leipzig—Augustusplatz, 17:30; Thessaloniki—“Epoxon” Theater, 18:00; Vilnius—Cathedral Square, 18:00; Rzeszów; Alicante.
ICUV and the Communities Army of Ukraine are supporting local Ukrainian communities in organizing the rallies. ICUV has published rally details and printable materials online.
The demand has a number behind it
About €210 billion in Russian central bank assets remain immobilized in the EU, most of them held in Belgium. When the European Council met in December 2025 to finance Ukraine through 2026 and 2027, one option was a €140 billion reparations loan based on those assets.
Belgium opposed the proposal. The EU instead approved a €90 billion support loan financed through market borrowing and backed by its budget, leaving the Russian principal immobilized.
If Russia launched this war, why are European citizens paying for it?
That choice leaves European taxpayers covering the loan’s debt-servicing costs and bearing its financial risk while Russia’s assets remain untouched.
If Russia launched this war, why are European citizens paying for it?
The argument has moved before
When Ukrainian communities rally, the answer from some politicians is familiar: legally impossible, governments will never agree.
The #MakeRussiaPay campaign began nearly three years ago as a grassroots initiative and grew into a multi-level advocacy effort on one principle — Russia must pay for the war, not European taxpayers.
At a rally in Brussels co-organized by ICUV, activists unrolled a meter-long receipt itemizing Russian crimes in Ukraine against the frozen Russian central bank assets held worldwide.
In 2024, G7 leaders agreed to provide about $50 billion in loans to Ukraine, to be repaid with revenues generated by immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
In December 2025, Ukrainian communities rallied in 13 European cities on the eve of the European Council summit, and the reparations loan — dismissed as unrealistic a year earlier — was on the agenda inside the room.
It did not pass. Ukrainian advocacy did not secure direct access to the frozen assets, and Belgium’s objection held. What changed is that the question is no longer whether Russia’s money can be used, but when, and under what legal structure.
What the rallies are asking for
ICUV and the Communities Army are campaigning on four demands this year:
- Make sanctions bite. Twenty-one packages have been adopted; Russia works around them through third countries, shadow fleets, and re-exports. The problem is enforcement, not new declarations.
- Make Russia pay. Direct transfer of frozen Russian assets into a dedicated reconstruction and defense fund.
- Sky shield. Ukraine intercepts drones effectively; Russia has shifted to mass ballistic strikes. A unified air-defense system with partners, countermeasures against guided bombs, and joint production of anti-ballistic systems.
- Justice and accountability. In May 2026, 36 countries and the EU adopted an agreement establishing the Management Committee of the Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression. Its entry into force remains pending while some participating states complete internal procedures.
Europe’s governments now face a straightforward choice: keep asking their own taxpayers to carry the cost of a war Moscow started, or use the money of the state that started it. This weekend, Ukrainians abroad will say which one they expect.
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