The EU redoubles efforts to “keep Ukraine in the battle” in the face of Trump’s “vacillations” with Putin

Costa has invited Volodímir Zelenski to participate in person at the summit of European leaders taking place this Thursday in Brussels. It is about staging European support for the president of Ukraine after his stormy meeting with Donald Trump last week at the White House.

There, the president of the United States demanded that he accept the territorial cessions in the Donbas region that claims him Vladimir Putin in exchange for ending the war and warned him that the Kremlin will “destroy” Ukraine if he does not do so.

Immediately afterwards, European leaders mobilized to support Zelensky with a joint statement – from which the President of the Government was initially excluded, Pedro Sanchez– which maintains that “The current line of contact must be the starting point for negotiations.”

“We remain committed with the principle that International borders must not be changed by force“European leaders maintain.

At this Thursday’s summit, the heads of State and Government seek to move from words to actions. The ultimate goal is for the EU to be able to “keep Ukraine in battle“before the”ups and downs” by Trump regarding Russia’s war of aggression, according to European sources.

In his penultimate turn, the US president has decided to suspend the in-person meeting that he had announced with Vladimir Putin in Budapest over the Kremlin’s refusal to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine and has announced a new round of sanctions against Russia.

The cancellation of this meeting has been received with great relief in Brussels, where the image of the Russian president – who has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court– moving freely around a European capital.

“From the moment the Budapest Peace Summit was announced, it was clear that many would do everything possible to prevent it from taking place,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister has complained, Péter Szijjártó.

Viktor Orbán He will be absent from the discussion on Ukraine in the European Council because he is attending the commemoration of the anniversary of the 1956 revolution in Hungary. He has delegated his vote to the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Ficowith which he shares a Eurosceptic tune.

“With Trump, what the EU is trying to do is keep him involved with Ukraine. This requires daily work because we see continuous ups and downs. It is not that the counter is reset to zero every day, but continuous work must be done,” says a community diplomat.

At the same time, European leaders are increasingly aware that the United States is an increasingly unreliable partner, requiring them to take a greater role, or all of the role, in supporting Ukraine.

The priority at the Brussels summit will be to advance the “repair loan“of 140 billion that the EU wants to grant kyiv with Russian funds frozen since the outbreak of the war.

With this money “Ukraine can be kept in the battle for the next two years and alleviate its budgetary needs,” say the sources consulted.

According to the calculations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine will need up to €160 billion in financial assistance over the next three years if it wants to stay afloat.

Convince Belgium

But Trump has turned off the tap on North American aid and European allies do not have enough budgetary margin to maintain this level of support. Hence, after many months of doubts, the EU has decided to use the frozen Russian funds.

The priority now is to convince Belgium, which is the headquarters of Euroclear, the depository company for Russian funds. Your prime minister, Bart de Wevermaintains that this “reparations loan” is equivalent to a “confiscation” and demands guarantees from its partners that will assume any risk jointly.

European leaders also do not agree on how Ukraine should use this credit. Germany demands that all the money be spent on military aid, France wants it to only be invested in European weapons, while the Netherlands and Sweden defend maximum flexibility for kyiv.

No final agreement is expected at the European Council this Thursday, but European leaders must give clear instructions to the Commission Ursula von der Leyen to present a legislative proposal in the coming weeks.

The goal is for the loan to be approved before the end of the year, because kyiv will run out of funds during the first quarter of 2026.

19th sanctions package

European leaders do plan to ratify this Thursday the nineteenth package of sanctions against Moscow, the main novelty of which is the ban on all imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from January 1, 2027.

Both Austria and especially Hungary have withdrawn their reservations and only Slovakia’s veto remained, but Fico lifted it late on Wednesday.

As part of this 19th sanctions package, the EU will blacklist two independent Chinese oil refineries, as well as two other Chinese companies involved in sanctions evasion activities.

European leaders also plan tighten restrictions against the so-called Russian “ghost fleet”which Moscow uses to circumvent sanctions on its oil.

Brussels warns that these ships pose growing risks to the environment and maritime safety, and proposes new powers to address them. In total, more than 560 Russian carriers are already included on the EU’s ‘blacklist’.

Finally, the big energy companies Rosneft y Gazpromneft They will now be subject to a total ban on transactions.