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EU leaders held solidarity with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a summit Thursday, a summit of the Trump administration’s hostile treatment of the U.S. president.
Five days after Zelenskyy popped up from the White House, resulting in the U.S. suspending military aid and intelligence support for Keefe, besides a group leader, who promised “lasting” support.
They also promise to improve their defenses in the face of uncertain transatlantic bonds.
Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to support the statement, forcing 26 other leaders to publish without him.
“Dear Dear Volodymyr, we have been with you since day one,” said António Costa, President of the European Council. “We continue to be with you now and we will continue in the future.”
The division highlights the major geopolitical shifts that Trump’s embrace of Russia. “It is very important for Ukrainians to be alone. We feel and know,” Zelenskyy said as he joined the EU leader lunch.
The leaders, besides Orbán, called on Kiev and other European capitals to participate in any negotiations regarding Ukraine’s future. Trump has already held bilateral peace talks with Russia, which is not involved in Kiev or Brussels.
However, the White House seems to have softened its position on Ukraine in recent days. On Thursday, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday that the government is negotiating a meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to agree to the framework of a “peace agreement and a first ceasefire.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the U.S. freeze in providing Kiev with weapons was a “momentum, a real commitment to the road to peace”, adding that the White House was “very encouraged by the signs we were seeing.”
The EU Joint Statement nodded to increase military support for Ukraine and to prepare states for post-conflict countries “to countries that contribute to security assurance based on their respective capabilities and capabilities.”
Orbán said Trump’s position on the war means EU support for Ukraine needs to change.
“It is not important for us to state our support for Ukraine,” said a diplomat involved in the negotiations. “It will be disastrous at this particular juncture.”
A separate statement agreed by all 27 EU leaders endorses the new defense financing plan proposed by the Commission. These include changes to the group’s debt and deficit rules to avoid an increase in defense spending, and a loan that will provide 150 billion euros to the capital to cover military capabilities.
Both ideas received widespread political support, but details of the two were not negotiated until the government approved them.
“Europe must become more sovereign, have greater responsibility for its defense, and be able to act autonomously and respond autonomously to direct and future challenges and threats in a 360° way,” the 27 leaders said in a statement.
A EU official said the loan tool targeted at specific features, including air defense and drone systems, will be “as flexible as possible with few strings attached” to ensure rapid adoption. They added that it will use existing NATO standards to ensure it runs out correctly.
This structure enables the Commission to avoid the EU’s ban on direct military spending by promoting output from the European defense industry. Some of these products can be used to arm Ukraine.
Alice Hancock’s other reports on Trowbridge
