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On Thursday, the EU leaders organized solidarity with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a summit as riposte for the enemy treatment of the Ukrainian president by the Trump administration in the USA.
Five days after Zelenskyy was out of the white house After a collision that led to the United States’ kyiv suspended military help and intelligence support, he was “permanently” promised by everyone to one of the leaders of the block.
They also promised to increase their own defense skills in the face of an insecure transatlantic bond.
The Pro-Russland Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, refused to support the joint declaration of support, and forced the other 26 leaders to give a text without it.
“Dear Volodymyr, we have been with you since the first day,” said António Costa, President of the European Council, who led the leader of the leader. “We are still with you now and will continue in the future.”
The split underlines the important geopolitical shift caused by Trump’s hug Russia. Zelenskyy who connected the connection EU Lunch managers later said: “It is very important that the Ukrainians are not alone. We feel it and know it. “
With the exception of Orbán Kyiv and other European capitals, the leaders demanded to be involved in negotiations on the future of Ukraine. Trump has opened bilateral peace talks with Russia, where Kyiv or Brussels are not included.
However, the White House seemed to alleviate its attitude towards Ukraine in the past few days. On Thursday, Trump’s special representative Steve Witkoff said that the government was in talks to agree on a meeting with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia in order to agree on a framework for “a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire”.
Pete Hegseth, the US defense minister, said that the US US weapons freeze to Kyiv, “break until a real commitment to a way to peace”, and added that the white house was “very encouraged by the signs we see”.
. The joint EU declaration nods on increased military support for Ukraine and the willingness of the states, “contribute to security guarantees that are based on their respective skills and skills for a post-conflict state.
Orbán said that Trump’s attitude towards the war means that the EU support has to change for Ukraine.
“It does not matter in what form we state our support for Ukraine, only that we do it,” said a diplomat who is involved in the talks. “It would not be catastrophic at this specific time.”
A separate statement agreed by all 27 EU leaders approved new new defense financing initiatives proposed by the Commission. This includes changes to the BLOC’s debt and deficit rules in order to exempt defense spending, and an instrument that would spend loans to capital participants for military skills.
Both ideas received broad political support, but the details of both must be negotiated before the governments.
“Europe has to be sovereign, responsible for his own defense and better equipped to deal with a 360 ° approach autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats,” said the 27 leaders in the explanation, which are not related to the USA.
The loan instrument, which is geared towards certain skills such as air defense and drone systems, would “be as flexible as possible with so few connected strings,” said an EU official to ensure quick acceptance. It would use existing NATO criteria to ensure that it was output correctly, added it.
The structure enables the Commission to avoid a ban from EU contract contract for direct military expenses by increasing the production of the European defense industry instead. Part of this production could be used to arm Ukraine.
Additional reporting from Alice Hancock in Trowbridge
