President Trump’s threat to abandon Ukraine added urgency to plans to fund security or reconstruction with the roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank.

As Europe scrambles to boost military aid to Ukraine, calls are intensifying to fund it by seizing tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets, in an issue causing tension between European allies.

France's Finance Minister said Tuesday that his country was opposed to seizing frozen Russian assets to fund military aid for Ukraine, arguing the move would violate international agreements. Tapping into more than 200 billion euros ($216 billion) in frozen Russian assets has been proposed as a way to bridge the large gap in defense budgets as

Russia’s stock market climbed nearly 3% on Tuesday following overnight reports that the United States is drafting a sanctions relief plan. As of 2:30 p.m. Moscow time, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) rose 2.

Trump has called for NATO members to spend 5% of GDP on defense, which is far more than Washington spends. Trump has said he was not sure the U.S. should be spending anything on NATO, leading to speculation that he might withdraw the United States from the alliance, despite a U.S. law forbidding any president from doing so unilaterally.

The argument between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart caused damage to an alliance at the heart of the post-World War II order.

President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to NATO expressed a commitment to the alliance during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, despite Trump allies — including Elon Musk — calling for a U.S. withdrawal.