"Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson was asked if he was 'disappointed' by the EU's failure to agree a 'reparations loan' backed by Russian assets - and instead had agreed a smaller loan from the bloc's budget -as he spoke with reporters in Brussels in the early hours of Friday. "This isn't so much about my emotional life here," he joked. "I think, and Sweden thinks, that the frozen Russian assets would have been a better method. Then I would have used Russia's money, not the EU's money." Crunch talks between European leaders in Brussels saw them fail to agree on the keynote plan pushed by the European Commission to use frozen Russian assets for a $140bn 'reparations loan' for Ukraine. The alternative - a smaller $90bn loan over two years backed by the EU budget - needed a unanimous decision, with Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic only agreeing to approve it on the proviso that they did not have to contribute. On the failed Russian frozen assets proposal, Belgium’s PM Bart De Wever said: "When we explained the text again, there were so many questions that I said, ‘I told you so, I told you so.’ There are a lot of loose ends. And if you start pulling at the loose ends in the strings, the thing collapses." Belgium - where the assets are held - and others warned of the impact on investor confidence, the need for 'risk-sharing' if Russia won a subsequent lawsuit, and questioned the legality. Italy, Belgium, Malta and Bulgaria called for alternatives to be explored, while others like Hungary and Slovakia have highlighted the need to end the Ukraine conflict - rather than fund more weapons- as well as ongoing corruption scandals in Ukraine. Russia dubbed the plan 'illegal' and 'theft'. "