Words and statements of support were all a summit of the European Union’s 27 leaders could offer Ukraine, following several hours of negotiations.
Two weeks after an emergency summit on defence policy, national leaders were back in the same room in Brussels on Thursday. The last time they got together they agreed to back a plan to free up potentially hundreds of billions of euros, for states to spend on their militaries and defence.
If the US can no longer be relied upon to guarantee Europe’s security, the view is the EU has to be able to deter the threat of a future Russia attack on its own.
Similarly, if ceasefire talks falter and US president Donald Trump decides to cut future military support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, the EU will have to try to make up the difference.
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The summit agenda on Thursday ranged from the Ukraine war, to Israel’s resumption of bombing in Gaza, the future of the EU budget, the bloc’s economic competitiveness and long-stalled financial market reforms.
The EU leaders resumed a debate on an eye-catching proposal put forward by Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, to dramatically increase the amount of military aid provided to Ukraine this year.
A paper circulated to capitals last week proposed EU states come together to voluntarily fund a major package of support for Ukraine, worth between €20 billion and €40 billion.
Those nearer to Russia – such as Poland, Finland, Lithuania, and other Baltic and Nordic states – were pushing for the EU to aim for the more ambitious end of that range.
Concerns about the scale of the proposed package of military aid got a lot louder the farther to the south and west you went on the map of Europe.
Pedro Sánchez, the centre-left Spanish prime minister, said as much before the meeting of leaders. “We must consider that the challenges we face in the southern neighbourhood are a bit different from those in the east,” he said.
A number of big states – such as France, Italy and Spain – had reservations about the Kallas proposal. A fair few member states felt somewhat blindsided by it.
The idea to calculate each states’ contribution towards a final figure based on their economic heft, would put a big strain on several capitals' already-stretched budgets.
Stumping up close to the €40 billion mark would make a big statement, representing a doubling of the amount of military and financial assistance the EU provided to Kyiv last year.
Even before leaders sat down together there was a sense the proposal was losing steam.
Speaking on his way into the meeting, Finland’s prime minister, Petteri Orpo, said it was disappointing to see headwinds gathering against the plan. The Finnish government wanted the package of support provided to Ukraine to be as big as possible, he said.
“This proposal may be a big one and it came rather quickly for some member states. But it’s a fact that without necessary weapons systems and air defence, Ukraine’s defence is weaker,” he said.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, said those closer to Russia on the EU’s eastern flank knew what they were talking about. Denmark was among the group of states sending a lot of money and aid to Ukraine. “Now we have to do what we can to get the rest of Europe on board,” she said.
Addressing EU leaders by video link, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed for €5 billion worth of artillery shells in the immediate term. It did not appear the EU could agree to put any extra money on the table in response.
A group of member states had promised €15 billion in additional support for Ukraine earlier this month. That push did not gather momentum this week as hoped.
For the second gathering of leaders in a row, Hungary’s far right prime minister, Viktor Orban, refused to add his name to a customary joint statement expressing support for Ukraine.
Speaking afterwards, António Costa, the president of the European Council, who chairs the summits, said the EU had been backing Ukraine since the first day of the war.
“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.
Nearly all leaders agree that the EU needs to get more support to Ukraine.
It seemed clear by the end of the day, however, that many disagreed with the way Kallas proposed how the union might do that.
