EU Leaders Rally Around Zelenskiy After Trump Calls Ukraine Strikes On Russian Refineries A Disgrace

EU summit amid missile strikes

European Union leaders rallied around President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a summit in Brussels as US President Donald Trump called Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries a “disgrace” and missiles and drones struck Ukrainian cities.

EU summit after Trump2 of 3 outlets reported it · not in News24▾

Zelenskiy told the summit, “We want to end this war as quick as possible. We don’t see now signals from the Russian side that they are ready for this, to end this war. That’s why we have to prepare for the winter,” and he added, “The winter package is not only energy, it’s also air defence and funding.”

Russian drone strikes on the city of Kharkiv killed three people, and strikes elsewhere left hundreds of thousands of people without power, according to Reuters’ account of the latest attacks.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Reuters that the EU would probably have to provide a new loan to Ukraine to help cover its budget gap for next year, warning, “Last winter was already hell, this one will be once again like hell.”

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Zelenskiy hits back at Trump

Zelenskiy said he was “only standing up for Ukraine's interests” after Trump said Kyiv’s new wave of strikes on Russian oil refineries was a “disgrace,” and Zelenskiy told the EU summit in Brussels, “If I don't stand up to this... who else will?” Trump also said Zelenskiy was “more difficult to deal with than [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” and Zelenskiy responded by praising “Leaders, real leaders,” as he arrived at the summit.

Zelenskiy warned that Russia’s drone attacks threaten NATO, and he took a jibe at Trump for saying he is harder to deal with than Putin, according to Al Jazeera’s account of his remarks after the EU summit. Zelenskiy told Reuters earlier this month that Ukraine had agreed a plan with European partners to close a $27 billion deficit in its military spending for this year, while Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said Ukraine still faced an unfunded budget gap for next year of $32.6 billion.

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Starshield, Patriot gaps, and money

Ukraine’s leadership raised alarm about disruptions to the SpaceX Starshield satellite system used by Kyiv for battlefield communications and drone operations, and a source in Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Thursday that Starshield receptors were only working at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph).

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, “Starlink is really necessary for Ukraine. And unfortunately, in short term, Europe can’t replace this capability,” as Europe prepared a new sanctions package to put pressure on Russia.

Zelenskiy told the European Council that the war would cost €155bn next year and that at least €70bn needed to come from the EU for defence and weapons, while he said Ukraine could produce up to three times more drones but “simply [doesn't] have enough money for that.”

Zelenskiy described a chronic lack of US-made Patriot missiles as a fundamental problem, saying he believed Europe possessed all the interceptors his country would need this winter but that they were being scooped up “in a piecemeal fashion.”

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