Unlock the White House View Newspaper FREE
Your guide to what the 2024 American elections mean for Washington and the world
EU leaders on Thursday set up a show of solidarity with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a summit created as a repository for the hostile treatment of the Ukrainian President from the Trump administration in the US
Five days after Zelenskyy was pulled out of the White House after a collision that led to the US suspending military aid and intelligence support for Kyiv, he was promised “sustainable” support by all, but one of the Block leaders.
They also pledged to enhance their protection skills in the face of an uncertain transatlantic connection.
Prime Minister Prime Minister Victor Orbán refused to support the common statement of support, forcing the other 26 leaders to issue a text without it.
“Dear Volodymyr, we have been with you since the first day,” said António Costa, President of the European Council, who headed the leaders’ summit. “We continue to be with you now, and we will continue in the future.”
The division underlines the significant geopolitical change created by Trump’s embrace of Russia. Zelenskyy, who joined the EU leaders for lunch, then said: “It is very important that the Ukrainians are not alone. We feel it and know it.”
Leaders, with the exception of Orbán, demanded that Kyiv and other European capitals be included in any negotiation for the future of Ukraine. Trump has opened bilateral peace talks with Russia that do not include Kyiv or Brussels.
However, the White House has appeared to mitigate its stance towards Ukraine in recent days. On Thursday, Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff said the administration was in talks to fix a meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to agree on a framework for “a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire”.
Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense, said US freezing weapons supply to Kyiv was a “pause, awaiting a real commitment to a path to peace”, adding that the White House was “very much encouraged by the signs we are seeing”.
. The EU’s Joint Declaration to increase military support for Ukraine and the willingness of states to “contribute to security guarantees based on their relevant powers and abilities” for a post-conflict state.
Orbán has said Trump’s stance on war means that EU support for Ukraine must change.
“It doesn’t matter what form we declare our support for Ukraine, only what we do,” said a diplomat involved in the talks. “At this particular point, it would be disastrous no.”
A special statement, agreed by all 27 EU leaders, adopted new protection financing initiatives proposed by the Commission. These include changes in block debt and deficit rules to exclude an increase in protection costs, and an instrument that will provide € 150 billion on loans to capitals to spend on military skills.
Both ideas were given widespread political support, but the details of the two should not be negotiated before governments approval.
“Europe should become more sovereign, more responsible for its protection and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats with a 360 ° approach,” the 27 leaders in the statement said, which did not refer to the US
The loan instrument, targeted for specific skills, including air protection and drone systems, would be “as flexible as possible,” said an EU official to ensure rapid approval. It would use the existing NATO criteria to make sure it was being spent properly, they added.
The structure enables the commission to take over a ban on the EU Treaty on direct military spending by increasing the production of the European Defense Industry. Some of that production can be used to arm Ukraine.
Additional reporting by Alice Hancock to Trrowbridge
