European Union leaders said on Thursday that they will continue to support Ukraine, but did not immediately endorse a call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to approve a package of at least € 5 billion ($ 7.8 billion CDN) for artillery purchases.
« We need funds for artillery shells and would greatly appreciate the support of Europe … as soon as possible, » Zelenskyy said at the EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels through Video Link.
Arriving at the Brussels summit, Bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had also asked leaders to coincide with Kiev’s support words with acts, as United States President Donald Trump pressures his efforts to end the war, including through Russia.
« The stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table, » Kallas said about the Ukrainians.
In the statement approved by all the leaders of the meeting, apart from Viktor Orban, Hungary, they pledged to « continue to provide Ukraine for regular and predictable financial support. » They also said that Member States should « urgently intensify efforts to meet the pressures of Ukraine’s military and defense needs ».
In a call with United States President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, agreed not to guide Russian energy infrastructure for 30 days. Russia agreed to do the same for Ukraine the day before, but Zelenskyy claims that Moscow has already violated the agreement.
But there was no concrete response to Kallas’s proposal to focus on what Zelenskyy says he needs more urgently, such as two million artillery shells at a cost of € 5 billion (around $ 7.8 billion).
Kallas has already reduced a proposal to compromise up to 40 billion euros ($ 62.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine this year, with each country contributing according to its economic size. This came after the resistance of some countries, especially in southern Europe.
Zelenskyy is more light in Trump Call
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukrainian experts would be present in the upcoming conversations involved in the United States and Russia, but would not be in the same room as Russia.
Russian and North -American experts will have to discuss ways to guarantee the safety of sending to the Black Sea during Monday conversations in Saudi Arabia over a possible peace settlement, according to Kremlin.
The Ukrainian leader also said that he had not discussed Trump on Thursday the possibility of U.S. ownership of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station of Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russia since shortly after it was invaded in February 2022.
According to a white -home statement Of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security advisor Mike Waltz on a call from Trump-Zelenskyy on Wednesday, the couple of leaders « discussed the Ukraine electricity supply and nuclear power plants. »
Zelenskyy also told Norwegian journalists that Trump has not raised questions about the Crimean state occupied by Russian during conversations with him. He was asked about the reports that the President of the United States is studying to recognize the Peninsula as part of Russia.
As the Brussels Summit was proceeded, the Military Highs from all over Europe and beyond Thursday met outside London to avoid plans for an international peace maintenance force for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, said that the « coalition of the » arranged « plan, led by Britain and France, is becoming a » operational phase « . But it is not clear how many countries are willing to send troops, as well as if there will be any cessation of fire to begin with.
Initial Reports of Kursk reports
In the meantime, Kursk’s Ukrainian soldiers have lost ground in recent days, but are not surrounded by Russian forces, three North -American and European officials familiar with the intelligence evaluations of their governments told Reuters. This is contrary to the recent comments of Trump and Putin.
The North -American Intelligence Agencies, including the CIA, have shared this assessment with the White House last week, said a North -American Officer and another person who knew the matter. However, Trump has continued to claim that Ukrainian troops are surrounded by the Western Russian Kursk region.
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A Ukrainian who has been working to repatriate children taken by Russia says that there can be no peace between the two countries until all of them at home, said Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine Charity, who has been rescuing and repatrienting Ukrainian children, said that it happens to the host Nile Köksal.
In a publication on social media on March 14, Trump said he had asked Russian President to save the lives of thousands of Ukrainians who said they were « completely surrounded » and vulnerable. Putin said he would do it if they surrendered. Trump repeated the claim in a Fox News interview on Tuesday.
The Institute for the Study of War, a United States -based conflict monitor, said on March 14 that he had not observed geolocked evidence to indicate that Russian forces have surrounded a significant number of Ukrainian forces at Kursk’s Oblast or elsewhere on the Ukrainian front line. «
The United States National Security Council did not directly answer questions about intelligence evaluations, but sent Reuters to the joint statement of Rubio and Waltz.
The White House, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence refused to comment.
Zelenskyy’s office and Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to comments applications.
Zelenskyy has denied that the Ukrainian forces were surrounded and said that Putin was lying on reality on the ground. The Ukrainian leader acknowledged that his military is in a difficult position in Kursk and hopes that the continuous attacks of Russia, as he tries to push the Ukrainian forces outside the region.
The Russian base reached
In the struggle on Thursday, Ukraine reached a large aerodrome of Russian strategic bomber with drones, causing a great explosion and firing about 700 kilometers from the first lines of the war, said Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Reuters verified videos showed a huge explosion that spread from the airport, dragging nearby country houses. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the air defenses had diminished 132 Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions.
Other verified videos showed a giant smoke plume that went up to the dawn sky and an intense fire.
The basis of Engels, which goes back to the Soviet era, houses the strategic bombers of Tupolev Tu-160 of Russia Tu-160, known not officially as white swans.
The Ukraine Ministry of Defense said that their forces had hit the airport and triggered secondary detonations of ammunition. Kiev said Russia had used the Engels base to carry out strikes in Ukraine.
Ten people were injured in the attack, according to local officials.
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