The European Union is expected to indefinitely freeze hundreds of billions of Russian funds held in Europe in line with a plan to use the cash to support Ukraine.

The bloc’s members were expected to approve the plan on Friday to immobilise 210 billion euros ($246bn) worth of Russian sovereign assets for as long as necessary, through a qualified majority vote, instead of voting every six months on extending the asset freeze.

That would equate to the support of at least 15 of the bloc’s 27 member states, representing 65 percent of the EU population.

The move is an important step that would allow EU leaders to hash out the specifics of a plan at a summit to use billions in frozen Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a massive loan that would assist Ukraine in meeting its financial

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