European Union leaders insisted on Thursday that no selections could be taken about the way forward for war-ravaged Ukraine with out its consent — or behind the backs of its companions in Europe, barely a month earlier than US President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace.
Ukraine’s place is precarious, greater than 1,000 days into the conflict. Russia continues to make positive aspects on the battlefield, pushing the entrance line steadily westward regardless of struggling heavy casualties. Ukraine’s vitality community is in tatters and navy recruits are laborious to seek out.
In a present of solidarity at a summit in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, many EU leaders repeated a variation of what has change into a standard mantra — nothing about Ukraine with out Ukraine, nothing about safety in Europe with out Europeans.
“Solely Ukraine because the aggressed nation can legitimately outline what peace means — and if and when the circumstances are met for credible negotiations,” summit host António Costa stated on the finish of the daylong assembly of the 27-nation bloc.
“So now will not be the time to invest about totally different situations. Now’s the time to strengthen Ukraine for all situations,” stated Costa, the president of the European Council.
On January 20, Trump returns to the White Home, having promised to finish the conflict in Ukraine shortly and talked up his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many Europeans are involved that it would lead to a poor deal for Ukraine.
The opposite large fear is that Putin will use any interregnum to rearm and trigger extra strife.
Rumours are swirling in Europe about doable peace talks in early 2025, and whether or not European peacekeepers may be wanted to implement any settlement, however the EU leaders try to maintain a lid on hypothesis about what they’re ready to take action as to not tip their hand to Russia.
The precedence now, they are saying, should be to strengthen Ukraine’s hand, ought to Zelenskyy resolve it’s time to negotiate.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated you will need to “guarantee long-term help to Ukraine — it should be clear that we’re ready to allow help so long as it’s wanted”. Air defence, artillery and ammunition are excessive on the listing, he informed reporters.
Requested about Trump, Scholz stated his impression from speaking to the president-elect “is that good cooperation between Europe and the US is feasible”. He stated that “the precept is at all times: no selections over Ukrainians’ heads, and that after all means over these of the European states”.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden had an analogous message.
“We have to stand with Ukraine, and each step … must be taken with Ukraine and within the presence of the European Union. The way forward for Ukraine is set in Europe and never elsewhere,” he stated.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof underlined that solely Ukraine can decide the circumstances for talks, “and it’s not for us to speak about that. In the intervening time, Ukraine has not but indicated that they’re ready to take action”.
Zelenskyy stated Kyiv wants the EU and US to remain united subsequent yr, saying that “solely collectively the USA and Europe can cease Putin and save Ukraine”. He stated that the one efficient safety assure stays NATO membership.
Zelenskyy, in his speech to the leaders posted on his web site, thanked France for its “initiative for a navy contingent in Ukraine as a part of these ensures and (calls) on different companions to hitch this effort, it should assist deliver the conflict to an finish”. It’s troublesome to foretell what Trump would possibly do, and whether or not historical past may be a dependable information.
Below his earlier presidency, in 2020, the USA inked a deal on a navy withdrawal from Afghanistan straight with the strongest participant — the Taliban insurgents — largely taking part in down the issues of the Afghan authorities and president.
The chaotic exit in 2021, lastly ordered by President Joe Biden, humiliated Washington and its allies in NATO because the Afghan safety forces they’d educated for years and invested billions in collapsed and the Taliban swept to energy.
In Ukraine, the 27-nation EU has supplied at the least as a lot help — greater than 180 billion euros (USD 187 billion) since Russia started its full-fledged invasion nearly three years in the past — as the USA.
However whereas the world’s greatest buying and selling bloc can in all probability proceed to prop up Ukraine’s ravaged financial system, the EU is nearly definitely unlikely to give you the option present the navy backing that the nation’s armed forces would require to prevail.
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