Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said US plans to pause military aid to Kyiv have already come into effect at his country’s military hubs on the border with Ukraine.
As Ukraine-bound trains loaded with US weapons and aid were halted on Tuesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen presented a €800 billion plan to “rearm Europe”.
The proposal would see the EU extend €150 billion in loans to boost defence spending and activate a fiscal escape clause to exclude an additional €650 billion in defence spending from fiscal rules.
“We are in an era of rearmament,” said Ms von der Leyen on Tuesday. “Europe is ready to massively boost its defence spending.”
Further east in Warsaw, Mr Tusk told his cabinet they would have to take some “extraordinary” decisions as Europe faces “the biggest [challenge] in the last few decades when it comes to security”.
He insisted a sovereign, pro-western Ukraine was key for his country’s security. “Whoever questions this obvious truth contributes to Putin’s triumph,” warned Mr Tusk on Twitter/X. “This, of course, makes the situation more challenging for Europe, Ukraine and Poland...but we must deal with it.”
Polish foreign ministry spokesman Paweł Wroński confirmed Warsaw had no “information or consultation” ahead of time on the “very serious” Washington decision.
Senior Polish diplomats spoke to their Ukrainian counterparts on Tuesday to co-ordinate future activity, in particular at the Rzeszów-Jasionka logistics hub in southeastern Poland. This border crossing point has served as a key transit point for Western aid to Ukraine as its war with Russia stretches into its fourth year.
Hours after the announcement, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to the Finnish president Alexander Stubb and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. A Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister welcomed the Ukrainian president’s “steadfast commitment to securing peace”.
“Underscoring that any peace for Ukraine needed to be lasting and secure, the prime minister said no one wanted peace more than Ukraine,” the spokesman added.
After a phone call with Germany’s centre-right leader Friedrich Merz by phone, Mr Zelenskiy said the two had “co-ordinated our positions”.
“We remember that Germany is the leader in supplying air defence systems to Ukraine and plays a crucial role in ensuring our financial stability,” the president added in a post on Twitter/X.
Mr Merz has yet to comment in public on the paused US aid but on Wednesday will attend a meeting on Ukraine with acting chancellor Olaf Scholz. The outgoing German leader has yet to respond to public pressure to allow Mr Merz, his likely successor, accompany him to an emergency EU leaders' summit on Thursday.
That meeting will discuss the commission plan and is likely to be a showdown between western EU member states supportive of Ukraine and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. He has maintained friendly relations with Russia and opposed sanctions, and on Tuesday confirmed he spoke to President Donald Trump on Sunday about “everything”.
Mr Orbán has urged European Council president Antonio Costa to follow the US example and commence “direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire and sustainable peace in Ukraine”.
Mr Orbán heads to Paris on Wednesday for bilateral talks with French president Emmanuel Macron. His prime minister Francois Bayrou said that “suspending aid during a war to a country under attack means abandoning the country under attack and accepting or hoping that the aggressor will win”.
Amid Ukrainian efforts on Tuesday efforts to mend fences with the Trump administration, German analysts said it was unlikely the US would ever “unpause” its aid to Ukraine.
“With the withdrawal of the US, the risk of warlike aggression in Europe has grown,” said Claudia Major, security analyst at Berlin’s SWP think tank.
