European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa wait for the start of the Tripartite Social Summit at the European Council building in Brussels. (AP Photo) European Union leaders meeting at a summit Thursday are aiming to greenlight a new raft of sanctions against Russia and press ahead with plans to use Moscow’s assets that are frozen in Europe to fund Ukraine’s war effort and economy for at least the next two years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take part in the one-day summit in Brussels, as he and his European backers press for a ceasefire to halt almost four years of fighting.
“Both support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia remain the two necessary requirements to achieve a just and lasting peace,” EU Council President António Costa, who will chair the meeting, said in an invitation letter to the leaders.
The summit comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said that his plan for a swift meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” It was yet another twist in Trump’s stop-and-go effort to end the war.
The leaders are eager for any progress on Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and will debate ways to keep the 27-nation bloc involved in proceedings.
The EU is the world’s biggest provider of aid to Palestinians but has little leverage over Israel – in part because European nations are divided over how to handle the conflict – and it has struggled to play a role of consequence.
It’s role in the war in Ukraine is clearer, and the summit takes place as Russian armed forces strike at the conflict-torn country’s power grid just as the weather starts to turn colder.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s strongest European backers who form part of the “coalition of the willing” said they opposed any push to make Ukraine surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace, as Trump most recently has suggested.
The U.K. will host a meeting of the members of that coalition of more than 30 countries on Friday.
On the EU side, leaders intend to push forward with plans to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war efforts, despite some misgivings about the consequences of such a step.
The biggest tranche of frozen assets – some $225 billion worth – are held in Belgium, and the Belgian government has been reluctant to take any risks on using the money without firm guarantees from its European partners.
Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around $153 billion.
The EU leaders are also likely to sign off on a new “road map” to prepare Europe to defend itself against a Russian attack by the end of the decade. Top officials believe that Russian could be ready to take aim at another European country within 3-5 years.
