EU leaders discuss ways to support Ukraine without Trump – Bloomberg
European Union leaders at a meeting in Budapest on Thursday, 7 November, discussed the possibility of extending Ukraine's military defence if Donald Trump decides to cut off US support.
Source: Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the discussions in Budapest, reports European Pravda
Details: The Europeans debated whether the EU would be willing to provide the required funding for military assistance to Kyiv. The main concern was that Trump would attempt to shift the financial burden to Europe.
At the same time, none of the initial discussions signal a significant shift in course, according to one of the sources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy encouraged European leaders on Thursday to focus on preserving weaponry supplies rather than undermining Ukraine's position by discussing a ceasefire or making concessions to Vladimir Putin.
Quote: "If we talk about the possibility of peace today, it’s because the Ukrainians had extraordinary courage and because the West supported Ukraine. That said, we’ll see how the scenario evolves in the coming weeks," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told reporters, arriving on the second day of the meeting of European leaders on Friday.
Some European officials have said the real problem is not so much the money itself but the available military resources, which come mainly from the United States.
Other officials argued that Europe should wait until after Trump's inauguration in January to learn about his plans for Ukraine. However, some of them said that leaders could not afford such luxuries and that the European Commission should produce suggestions for how the EU would respond to the end of US aid.
Trump has already started his first series of phone conversations with European leaders.
At least one of the talks involved a discussion of how Trump might approach talks with Putin, according to a senior person who was briefed on the exchange.
The unnamed official stated that Trump made it plain that he was aware that he could not just pressure Ukraine to make concessions to Putin without offering anything in return.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Europe will not be able to finance Ukraine's defence on its own if the United States withdraws its support under Donald Trump's presidency.
According to Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, the EU's future will be decided by its support for Ukraine in the upcoming months since, following Donald Trump's victory in the US, European nations need to do more to defend themselves and Kyiv.
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