European leaders were pressed to back up their words of support for Ukraine by significantly increasing military aid to Kyiv, during a summit in Brussels which was addressed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The EU’s 27 leaders met to debate how to bolster Ukraine’s position in the war with Russia while increasing the union’s ability to defend itself and become more economically competitive.
EU states have been asked to drastically increase military and financial assistance to Ukraine, due to fears US president Donald Trump could cut off the huge flow of weapons the US sends to Kyiv if efforts to broker a ceasefire in the conflict fail.
A recent EU proposal suggested states go as far as doubling military aid to Ukraine this year, from €20 billion to as much as €40 billion.
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EU leaders urged to back up words of support for Ukraine
The summit broke up without any agreement on the proposal to increase military support for Ukraine.
Speaking afterwards, António Costa, the president of the European Council, who chairs the summits, said he was confident Ukraine has sufficient funding for the current year.
“Our support to Ukraine [started] day one of this war, and we will continue in the unwavering way until the end of this war,” he said.
The scale of national contributions required to jointly fund a €40 billion package has caused concern in several EU states, many of whom are already facing budget pressures. The package would be funded by a coalition of “willing” EU states voluntarily contributing, in proportion to their economic size.
It is understood a number of big states, such as France, Italy and Spain, have reservations about the proposal in its current form.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said discussions about the plan were continuing. The Fianna Fáil leader said the final figure arrived at could be “lower” than €40 billion.
The proposal was tabled by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, who on Thursday said Europe needed to back up words of support for Ukraine with action.
At the very least EU leaders need to come up with €5 billion in the short term to fund Ukraine’s “imminent” need for more artillery ammunition, she said. “The stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiating table,” she said.
Several sources said while there was support to do more to help Ukraine, there was a lack of backing for the way Ms Kallas proposed EU states do that.
Mr Zelenskiy addressed the EU summit by video link. He briefed the room on his perspective of ongoing ceasefire talks, following Mr Trump’s phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier this week.
Ukraine accused Moscow of continuing to attack its energy infrastructure despite a declared truce, as the Kremlin said Europe’s plans to boost defence production showed it was “at odds” with the leaders of Russia and the United States.
“Last night, the Russian army launched a massive drone attack on our country – 171 strike drones in total ... Their target was our infrastructure,” Mr Zelenskiy said in his video address to EU leaders.
“Despite Putin’s words about allegedly being ready to stop the attacks, nothing has changed,” he added, referring to the Russian president’s announcement on Tuesday that he would join Ukraine in pausing strikes on enemy energy sites for 30 days.
“So it’s crucial that your support for Ukraine ... continues and grows. And this is especially true for air defence, military aid and our overall resilience. We need funds for artillery shells and would really appreciate Europe’s support with at least €5 billion as soon as possible.”
Mr Zelenskiy urged Europe to tighten sanctions “that must remain in place until Russia starts withdrawing from our land and fully compensates for the damage caused by its aggression”.
He also reiterated that Kyiv supports a US proposal for a full 30-day ceasefire covering land, sea and air, and said: “Putin must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war, and must start fulfilling what he promises the world.”
[ Opinion: Ukraine must not capitulate to a forced deal with RussiaOpens in new window ]
Moscow and Kyiv said their officials would meet separately with a US delegation in Saudi Arabia on Monday, as Mr Trump pushes for an end to Europe’s biggest war since 1945 and a rapprochement with Moscow.
Even though Russia started attacks on Ukraine 11 years ago and launched an all-out invasion in 2022, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Europe was now becoming a “party of war”.
“The main signals from Brussels and European capitals now regard plans for the militarisation of Europe, which is clearly at odds with the attitude of the presidents of Russia and the United States to seek ways towards a peaceful settlement process,” he said.
Russia said its military shot down 132 drones on Thursday, including 54 over the southern Saratov region.
