EU leaders pledge defense surge & Ukraine support after U.S. aid freeze

European leaders on Thursday said they would stand by Ukraine and spend more on defense in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of U.S. policies.

"Europe must take up this challenge, this arms race. And it must win it," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at the summit in Brussels.

"Europe as a whole is truly capable of winning any military, financial, economic confrontation with Russia - we are simply stronger."

Many EU leaders hailed the European Commission's proposals this week to give them fiscal flexibility on defense spending, and to jointly borrow up to $160 billion to lend to EU governments to spend on their militaries.

"We are here to defend Ukraine," the chairman of the meeting Antonio Costa said as he and European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen warmly welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in sharp contrast with the clash between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week.

But decades of reliance on U.S. protection, divergences on funding and on how France's nuclear deterrence could be used for Europe showed how difficult it would be for the EU to fill the void left by Washington after it froze military aid to Ukraine.

Washington provided more than 40 percent of military aid to Ukraine last year, according to NATO, some of which Europe could not easily replace. Some leaders still held out hope, in public at least, that Washington could be coaxed back into the fold.

"We must ensure, with cool and wise heads, that U.S. support is also guaranteed in the coming months and years, because Ukraine is also dependent on their support for its defense," Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Veto 

Adding to the EU's difficulties, Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, may veto a unanimous statement backing Kyiv, though he made clear he would support measures for an increase in spending on Europe's own defense.

The Brussels summit takes place against a backdrop of dramatic defense policy decisions driven by fears that Russia, emboldened by its conflict in Ukraine, may attack an  EU country next and that Europe cannot rely on the U.S. to come to its aid.

Zelenskyy called on EU leaders in Brussels to support the idea of truce in the air and at sea towards achieving peace in Ukraine.

"Everyone needs to make sure that Russia, as the sole source of this war, accepts the need to end it. This can be proved by two forms of silence that are easy to establish and monitor, namely, no attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure – truce for missiles, bombs, and long-range drones, and the second is truce on the water, meaning no military operations in the Black Sea," he said. 

In a sign of the gravity of the moment, Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners.

This was met with mixed reaction. Some, like Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda, said such a "nuclear umbrella would serve as really very serious deterrence toward Russia." Poland said the idea was worth discussing while others, like Germany, stressed the need to keep the U.S. involved.

Trump has said Europe must take more responsibility for its security and that the U.S. would not protect a NATO ally that did not spend enough on defense.

Alarm

His decision to shift from staunch U.S. support for Ukraine to a more conciliatory stance towards Moscow has deeply alarmed Europeans who see Russia as the biggest threat.

However, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Trump had made both the United States' and his personal commitment to NATO clear.

"The transatlantic partnership remains the bedrock of our alliance," Rutte added during a press conference held alongside Polish president Andrzej Duda.

Underlining the level of concern, the parties aiming to form Germany's next government on Tuesday agreed to lift constitutional limits on borrowing to fund defense spending.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia should opt for a peace in Ukraine that will ensure the long-term security of Russia and its sustainable development.

"We must choose for ourselves a peace option that will suit us and that will ensure peace for our country in the long term," Putin said. "We don't need anything else's, but we won't give up our own."

'Fluid' situation

Meanwhile, British officials held talks on Wednesday with around 20 countries, mostly European and Commonwealth parties, interested in contributing to a so-called 'coalition of the willing' to support Ukraine, a UK official said.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Sunday that Britain, France and some other nations would form a coalition to draw up plans to offer Ukraine support in the event of a peace deal.

The official would not be drawn on which other countries had shown an interest in offering support, but said: "It shows the willingness of the coalition of the willing to convene and the desire of a number of different countries to play their part. This is still early stages and the situation is very fluid."