Growing “doubts” about the United States’ commitment to Europe’s security should push the European Union and Ukraine closer together, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped to speak to US president Donald Trump in the next day, to raise the recent decision by the US to halt supplies of some weapons to Ukraine, including air defence missiles. The decision was driven by US concerns that its stockpiles were running low, according to senior officials.
Mr Trump later reportedly pushed for a quick halt to the Ukraine war in a Thursday phone call with Vladimir Putin, while a Kremlin aide said the Russian president reiterated that Moscow would keep pushing to solve the conflict’s “root causes”.
“Root causes” has become Russian shorthand for issue of Nato enlargement and western support for Ukraine, including the rejection of any notion of Ukraine joining the Nato alliance. Russian leaders are also angling to establish greater control over political decisions made in Kyiv and other eastern European capitals, Nato leaders have said.
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Mr Trump and Mr Putin did not discuss the pause in some US weapons shipments to Kyiv during the nearly hour-long call, according to a readout provided by Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.
Mr Trump had promised during the US presidential election campaign to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, but has been frustrated in his efforts to broker a US-led peace, at different times blaming Ukraine and Russia for the lack of progress.
Mr Zelenskiy said talks between Ukraine and Russia needed to take place at leader level to make progress. Ukraine was confident it could count on continued US support in the war, he said.
However, he said the “doubts” about the commitment of the US to guarantee Europe’s security should bring Ukraine and other European countries closer together, in the face of the threat from Russia.
Mr Zelenskiy was speaking in Aarhus, where he joined a meeting of EU commissioners hosted by the Danish government. “We are living in uncertain times ... It’s so important to have something that we can count on and that is Europe,” the Ukrainian leader said.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said additional pressure had to be put on Russia to push Mr Putin to the negotiating table.
Economic sanctions on Russia were “biting” and driving Mr Putin’s wartime economy to its limits, the head of the EU’s executive arm said. Dr von der Leyen pointed to “eye-opening” comments from Russian ministers about Russia being on the brink of a recession.
The European arms and defence industry had to be made “fit for purpose” and increase production, as part of plans to build-up the militaries of EU states, she said.
The idea of jointly financing “big European projects”, such as an air defence shield, was still on the agenda, she said.
Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said weapons and ammunition EU states provided to Ukraine should not be seen as donations. “Right now it is the army in Ukraine that is protecting Europe,” she said.
“I see no sign that Putin wants peace and I do not trust for a second that Putin intends to stop with Ukraine,” she said.
Ms Frederiksen, whose government has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, said the EU should fill any gaps left by the US halting the supply of some weapons to the Ukrainian army.
The EU’s 27 states had provided Ukraine with €24 billion in military aid this year, surpassing the €20 billion Kyiv received in support from countries in the bloc last year.
Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council who chairs the summits of EU leaders, said he was “deeply disappointed” that Russia had not engaged in talks to bring about a “just and lasting peace” in the war. – Additional reporting: Reuters
