Janet Yellen says she supports using proceeds from frozen Russian assets to fund more aid for Ukraine

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen backed a European proposal to access profits from frozen Russian funds.
• Yellen said she supported "harnessing windfall proceeds from Russian sovereign assets" for Ukraine.

Janet Yellen backed European plans to tap proceeds stemming from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

In Wednesday comments in Morocco, the US Treasury secretary said she was on board with the use of "windfall proceeds from Russian sovereign assets immobilized in particular clearinghouses and using the funds to support Ukraine."

In the proposal, the West would access profits accumulated at Belgium clearinghouse Euroclear, where most of the more than $212 billion in immobilized Russian assets are held. Right now, those profits, which come from payments on bonds owned by the central bank, are reinvested by Euroclear.

Yellen's comments come as some officials within the European Central Bank have cautioned that tapping those funds could disrupt international markets and raise legality issues.

For its part, Euroclear announced on Wednesday it would put the profits made from the frozen assets into a fund for Ukraine. And Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country would open a 1.7 billion euro fund to help Ukraine as well, pulling from the frozen assets Russia has in Belgium.

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Western nations led by the US have frozen roughly $300 billion worth of Russian reserves.