Mar 7, 2025 01:18 AM
https://www.politico.eu/article/european...n-ukraine/
INTRO: Hugs. Photo ops. A pledge to keep arming Ukraine.
Despite everything that's happened in the six short weeks since Donald Trump returned to the White House, that's about all European Union leaders had to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an emergency summit in Brussels Thursday.
Sure, they hammered out plans to beef up the EU's defense sector, but ― and in the short term this is perhaps what matters most ― they fell short of agreeing on any new commitments to strengthen Ukraine's hand in the immediate future.
Kyiv is grappling with a cutoff in U.S. military aid and intelligence-sharing as Trump's administration dials up pressure on Zelenskyy to strike a rapid peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the gathering in Brussels, diplomats from countries that staunchly support Ukraine had voiced hope that the meeting would deliver new commitments to put Kyiv in a stronger position.
"We have to support Ukraine now more than ever," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said before the extraordinary summit.
But after 10 hours of talks, and despite a public embrace of Zelenskyy — who addressed journalists flanked by the leaders of the EU's top two institutions, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa — the final conclusions brokered among national leaders focused only on their collective efforts to build up a fragmented defense sector.
The portion on Ukraine didn't even pass muster among the 27 members due to opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who hasn't hidden his support for Putin and who stated his opposition to the statement ahead of the meeting, and stuck to that stance.
The rest of the EU dismissed any sense of disunity. "He's done that before," outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters. "That has not overturned the [European] Union."
Without Hungary, 26 countries signed off on a Ukraine statement that draws red lines for future peace talks, calls for Kyiv's accession to the bloc and pledged future military aid without specific targets.
It wasn't for lack of trying on Zelenskyy's part... (MORE - missing details)
INTRO: Hugs. Photo ops. A pledge to keep arming Ukraine.
Despite everything that's happened in the six short weeks since Donald Trump returned to the White House, that's about all European Union leaders had to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an emergency summit in Brussels Thursday.
Sure, they hammered out plans to beef up the EU's defense sector, but ― and in the short term this is perhaps what matters most ― they fell short of agreeing on any new commitments to strengthen Ukraine's hand in the immediate future.
Kyiv is grappling with a cutoff in U.S. military aid and intelligence-sharing as Trump's administration dials up pressure on Zelenskyy to strike a rapid peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the gathering in Brussels, diplomats from countries that staunchly support Ukraine had voiced hope that the meeting would deliver new commitments to put Kyiv in a stronger position.
"We have to support Ukraine now more than ever," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said before the extraordinary summit.
But after 10 hours of talks, and despite a public embrace of Zelenskyy — who addressed journalists flanked by the leaders of the EU's top two institutions, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa — the final conclusions brokered among national leaders focused only on their collective efforts to build up a fragmented defense sector.
The portion on Ukraine didn't even pass muster among the 27 members due to opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who hasn't hidden his support for Putin and who stated his opposition to the statement ahead of the meeting, and stuck to that stance.
The rest of the EU dismissed any sense of disunity. "He's done that before," outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters. "That has not overturned the [European] Union."
Without Hungary, 26 countries signed off on a Ukraine statement that draws red lines for future peace talks, calls for Kyiv's accession to the bloc and pledged future military aid without specific targets.
It wasn't for lack of trying on Zelenskyy's part... (MORE - missing details)