The Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, reiterated, on Thursday 26 October, that Europeans had no right to ignore Ukraine at a time when the situation in the Middle East is tense.
“We have no right for war fatigue“ in support for Ukraine, he stressed on his arrival at the European Council.
On Friday, European leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine, after a remote speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday afternoon (26 October) (see the speech: https://aeur.eu/f/9al ).
According to the European Council’s draft conclusions of 24 October, the Europeans are expected to reiterate their continued support for Ukraine, particularly in military terms.
However, this support could be called into question by the new Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, who announced that his country would no longer supply arms to Kyiv. This decision was criticised by the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, whose country has just announced military support - including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery ammunition, drones and light weapons - worth €495 million. “I don’t understand the decision to stop military donations. I don’t agree (...) You can’t win a war like this with words alone. We win it with weapons”, she explained to the media.
Hungary, which is blocking a new instalment of the ‘European Peace Facility’, is banking on ‘diplomacy’. “We have a peace strategy. We want to do everything in our power to achieve peace. That is why we keep open all the communication lines to the Russians”, explained Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The latter met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Beijing, which was criticised by many European leaders. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)