Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with about 50 European leaders in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, to secure more support for the war as the United States turns off the financial taps.
Zelenskyy will be appealing to the European Political Community on Thursday for more support in its war against Russia, one day after European Union leaders discussed proposals to use frozen Russian assets to fund a new 140 billion-euro ($164bn) loan for Kyiv.
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His renewed appeal comes as Europe, which is on high alert after a series of provocative incursions from Russia, comes under more pressure to back Ukraine as the United States turns its focus on security concerns in Asia and elsewhere.
Thursday’s gathering comes just days after drone incidents at airports and military bases in the country. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Thursday that Europe was in a hybrid war being waged by Russia, and Ukraine was the continent’s first line of defence.
Danish police have not yet identified those responsible for the drone incidents in Denmark, but Frederiksen likened them to other attacks, such as a recent violation of Polish airspace and said that Europe should be able to defend itself totally by 2030.
On Wednesday, leaders discussed how to prepare Europe to fend off Russian aggression by 2030. Intelligence services believe that Russia could mount an assault elsewhere in Europe in three to five years, and that President Vladimir Putin is intent on testing NATO.
Security at the summit is extremely tight, with a special radar system set up at Copenhagen airport to help keep watch.
The Ukrainian president urged the EU to “keep its promises” to Ukraine on its bid to join the bloc on his way to address some 50 heads of state and government and EU leaders converging in the Danish capital.
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Officials in Brussels and Kyiv say Ukraine has carried out the necessary legal legwork to make more progress on EU accession, but Budapest is refusing to budge.
On Thursday, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said he would “stand firmly” on his opposition to Ukraine joining the bloc.
“It would mean, first, that war would come into the European Union. Second, money from the European Union would go to Ukraine,” Orban said in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Another area where the Hungarian leader is proving an outlier in the EU is its efforts to end purchases of oil and gas from Russia.
Trump has demanded that NATO allies stop purchasing fossil fuels from Moscow before he will move ahead with sanctions to pressure the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine.
Hungary, along with neighbouring Slovakia, is one of the few EU countries to still import oil from Russia via a pipeline.
Orban, one of Trump’s strongest backers in the EU, insisted that landlocked Hungary can’t stop buying oil from Russia – but that argument is not going down well.
“Those who choose ties with Russia instead of America are going against both Europe and the US,” Zelenskyy told EU leaders by videolink on Wednesday.
“We truly hope that guys from Hungary will listen to these shared signals from all of us.”
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