Zelensky tells EU Leaders 'Thankful' Ukrainians 'Are Not Alone'

"We are very thankful that we are not alone. And these are not just words," Zelensky said, standing alongside EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa. "It's very important you made a strong signal to Ukrainian people."

Europe and Ukraine are at a "watershed moment", von der Leyen said  as the bloc's leaders kicked off crisis talks.

"Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for lasting and just peace," she told reporters.

Thursday's summit brings all 27 EU leaders together for the first time since the explosive meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky last week, with U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing since suspended.

The evaporation of American support has sent Ukraine's allies scrambling, with EU leaders openly questioning Washington's reliability as a security partner going forward.

While the Brussels meeting will aim to cement European support for Kiev, it is unlikely to yield any major announcements of aid beyond the 30 billion euros ($32 billion) the bloc has already committed for this year.

The stark prospect of the United States pivoting from its European alliances has, however, fuelled a growing consensus on the summit's other major topic: the need to bolster Europe's defenses against Russia.

Ahead of the meeting, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out an 800 billion euro plan to "re-arm Europe" and assume responsibility for the continent's defense.

"The question is no longer whether Europe's security is threatened in a very real way," von der Leyen said in a statement ahead of the emergency meeting.

"The real question in front of us is whether Europe is prepared to act as decisively as the situation dictates. And whether Europe is ready and able to act with the speed and the ambition that is needed."

This morning, Zelensky urged "no pause" in pressure on Russia to halt its "terror" after a Russian missile strike on a hotel in his hometown killed four civilians.

Rescue workers at the scene used cranes and worked under floodlights to search for survivors under the rubble after the strike on Kryvyi Rig in southern Ukraine, images released by emergency services showed.

"Just before the attack, volunteers from a humanitarian organization, citizens of Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom, had checked into the hotel. They survived," Zelensky wrote on social media.

"There must be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life," the Ukrainian leader added.

The Kremlin on Thursday praised comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the conflict in Ukraine a "proxy war", saying they were "in line" with President Vladimir Putin's views.

"We agree. That is how it is... This is absolutely in line with the position that our president and foreign minister have repeatedly expressed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Rubio said the conflict was "a proxy war between nuclear powers - the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia - and it needs to come to an end."

  'Coalition of the willing' 

The bolstering of European defenses has taken on a new urgency as Trump makes clear his desire to swiftly end the war caused by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine through direct negotiations with Moscow.

His embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while expressing contempt toward Zelenksy, has cemented fears that Kiev and Europe's interests will be overlooked in any deal to end the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a "coalition of the willing" to come together to draw up a peace plan and present it to the United States.

Starmer and other European leaders made a show of embracing Zelensky and reaffirming support for Ukraine at weekend talks in London, held just days after the White House spat.

France and Britain have pitched a one-month truce "in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure", though not initially on the ground.

On Thursday, the bloc is expected to consider sending in an EU force to guarantee any peace deal in Ukraine.

Zelensky has gone so far as to call for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent can no longer count on Washington.

While Brussels is pressing member states to agree to urgently deliver a new package of key weaponry to Ukraine, it was unclear if a deal would be reached Thursday.

  'Legitimately worried' 

A broad consensus has emerged, however, on the need to significantly ramp up military spending to bolster longer term defenses against Russia — a key demand from Trump's administration towards its NATO allies.

Trump has accused allies of underpaying, and demanded NATO members more than double their defense spending target from two percent of GDP to five percent.

That goal appears well out of reach for most, but the leaders of Europe's biggest economies have been vocal about the need to pump money into strategic autonomy.

Finding the cash to do so will be top of mind at Thursday's summit.

According to von der Leyen's five-part plan, the bloc would mobilise around 800 billion euros to invest in defense — starting with a 150 billion euro loan facility and an easing of the bloc's strict budget restrictions.

Several EU members are already seeking to loosen the purse strings in the face of Washington's pivot.

After coming out on top in last month's vote, Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he had "no illusions" about the U.S. president and has sought to unlock military expenditures by rewriting his country's debt rules.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also called for "extra investments" in defense and offered a stark picture of the stakes.

"Who can believe that this Russia of today will stop at Ukraine?" he asked in an address to the nation on Wednesday night. "Russia has become a threat for France and Europe."

About Washington, he said he was "legitimately worried" about the start of a "new era" after Trump began his second stint in the White House by reversing U.S. policy on Ukraine and upending of the transatlantic alliance.

"I want to believe that the United States will stay by our side but we have to be prepared for that not to be the case."

Macron said he would open a debate on extending France's nuclear deterrent to other European nations, following a phone conversation with Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz on extending that umbrella of protection.

Moscow views comments by Macron about extending France's nuclear deterrent to European partners as a "threat", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

"Of course it is a threat against Russia. If he sees us as a threat... and says that it is necessary to use a nuclear weapon, is preparing to use a nuclear weapon against Russia, of course it is a threat," Lavrov said at a press conference.

"Every day, he makes some absolutely... contradictory statements" which are "detached from reality", Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of Macron.

Source: HDN