Some EU leaders want to attend the meeting between US President Donald Trump and russian dictator vladimir putin in Budapest, Hungary, and secure a seat at the negotiating table for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In addition, Ukraine's partners will discuss how to ensure that Ukraine's position is strengthened against the backdrop of the Trump-putin meeting.
It was reported by Politico.
EU leaders were concerned about the fact that Hungarian leader Viktor Orban is an ally of Trump, who maintained good relations with putin throughout the war. In particular, he has repeatedly blocked EU sanctions against russia and called for "peace," arguing that the war in Ukraine is not Europe's business.
According to one diplomat with knowledge of the matter, some EU leaders will lobby for participation in the meeting between Trump and putin, as well as to ensure Zelenskyy's seat at the table.
We will remind, earlier the Ukrainian President said that he is ready to join the meeting in Budapest if invited. He called the possible format of such a meeting "shuttle diplomacy."
It is noted that the Europeans are most afraid that Trump will again side with putin in determining the terms of peace and will put pressure on Zelenskyy to agree to russian conditions, which could lead to the loss of a significant part of the territory in the east of the country.
They fear that after putin's two-hour conversation with Trump, the American president became less inclined to help Zelenskyy during their meeting in Washington last week.
There is also widespread skepticism among EU diplomats about putin's seriousness about engaging in peace talks. Many see his proposal for a new meeting with Trump as another stalling tactic to continue bombarding Ukraine with increased missile and drone attacks.
Meanwhile, allies are rushing to shore up Ukraine's position ahead of the talks in Budapest, fearing the two leaders could strike a bad truce deal that would weaken the rest of Europe.
At this week's summit, European leaders are set to agree on a three-pronged support package for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to give him the strongest possible position in negotiations over a possible truce.
At the heart of their strategy is a plan to mobilize additional funds from frozen russian assets, as well as supplying more weapons and imposing new sanctions targeting russia's economy, according to diplomats and officials preparing for Thursday's meeting in Brussels.
Diplomats expect Zelenskyy to address the leaders at Thursday's summit, either in person or via video link, to drum up support. Other allies, including Britain's Keir Starmer, will join a broader discussion among the so-called "coalition of the willing" later this week.
Aside from arming Ukraine, EU countries are close to an agreement on two other important areas of their support: a 19th round of economic sanctions targeting putin's military budget and plans to confiscate russia's frozen financial assets to unlock some EUR 140 billion for Ukraine.
Other countries have expressed concern about the potential risk to the euro's international creditworthiness and want the U.S., Japan and other countries to adopt similar policies.
On Thursday, EU leaders are set to decide whether to formally ask the European Commission to prepare detailed legislative proposals to create a full-fledged bailout loan. Officials preparing for the summit believe that Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever will agree to allow the EU's executive body, the European Commission, to proceed with the legislative plan. He could still block it later.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, The Washington Post, citing a European diplomat, wrote that Trump, during a meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, kept returning to the topic of his "dissatisfaction with not receiving the Nobel Prize, that he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize" and called on Kyiv to cede the entire Donbas.
However, Trump himself denied that he had allegedly given up Donbas to the aggressor state of russia. According to him, he called for a halt to hostilities where they are, and everything else will depend on negotiations.
Meanwhile, after the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump in Washington, the Ukrainian President discussed diplomacy with French President Emmanuel Macron and agreed to meet in the near future.
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