Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Brussels on Thursday to meet with European Union leaders as they gather for a summit.
The Belgian capital is the third stop in the Ukrainian President’s whirlwind European tour. He visited London on Wednesday afternoon to address Parliament and hold a meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before crossing the Channel again for a meeting in Paris with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz.
During his trip to Brussels, Zelenskyy is also expected to deliver a speech to European lawmakers with an extraordinary plenary session convened in the morning.
Follow all the developments as they unfold in the live blog below:
08:40
Here’s what you need to know
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in Brussels on Thursday;
- Zelenslyy will address a special session of the European Parliament plenary, timing TBD;
- He will also join EU leaders at their summit. It will be the first time he attends in person, having joined virtually most summits last year;
- But he is unlikely to walk away with much more than renewed pledges of unwavering support in the face of Russia’s aggression.
10:24
EU leaders to meet Zelenskyy in groups
No time for individual bilateral meetings with all 27 leaders so instead groups have been made.
First group is composed of Spain, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Romania, Netherlands.
Also, Zelenskyy is expected to meet with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg later in the day. The military alliance is headquartered in the Belgian capital.
10:04
Sanctions should target Rosatom, diamonds and banks: Lithuania
President Gitanas Nausėda told reporters Lithuania is «supporting stronger restrictive measures towards Russia because I think that bolder steps, larger steps are much more effective than small steps.»
«We are in favour of putting additional companies like Rosatom, members of the board of Rosatom, diamonds, also remaining banks. So I think it would help to have more pronounced impact on the Russian economy,» Nausėda said.
Rosatom is Russia’s state nuclear energy company.
09:49
It’s ‘important’ there is no circumvention of sanctions, says Kaja Kallas
But weapons are not the only way the EU can help Ukraine and Kallas also called for more sanctions against Russia, especially a more stringent enforcement of those already imposed.
“If we have strong sanctions package, it’s important that there is no circumvention around those sanctions,” Kallas told reporters. “I really (welcome) the movement towards criminalisation of circumvention.”
The European Commission has already said the 10th package of sanctions would have a strong focus on closing loopholes and preventing circumvention to ensure the previous rounds of penalties have the desired effect.
The new package is set to be unveiled around the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine, on 24 February.
“I’m optimistic” about the upcoming package, said Kallas. “We should give a clear signal for the anniversary.”
“As long as the war is going on, we should do more,” she added.
Kallas also said that member states should listen to each other’s needs and considerations when it comes to drafting sanctions, and keep the “unity” they have been showing since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion.
09:46
We need to ‘speed up’ military deliveries: Estonia
Kaja Kallas told reporters upon arrivals that «it’s very important that we speed up the military to Ukraine.»
«I think that all of us have looked to the warehouses, what we have, but we should do more and we should give a clear signal to (the) European defence industry to produce more.
«And I was thinking that maybe we could use a similar mechanism like we did with the (COVID-19) vaccines so that the European countries will provide funds, European Commission will procure and then it will be sent directly to Ukraine because the price goes up with every delay, with every hesitation, and that could speed up the process so that Ukraine will give or get the military aid in months, not years,» she added.
Estonia, however, will not provide fighter jets because it doesn’t have such equipment, she said.
«It’s up to those democratic countries to decide whether they can. But it’s my plea that everyone should do what they can because the price will go up with every hesitation, with every delay. If you think (that) if we would have given all that we are giving now, already in January, all the countries, I think the outcome would have been different,» she said.
09:38
Frozen Russian assets and how to use them to feature high on agenda
EU member states have frozen about €300 billion of Russian central bank assets and Ukraine wants to use this to help pay for the reconstruction.
But this is legally sticky and experts from the EU and G7 countries are looking at different options to tap into those funds.
In a letter to the Commission and Council chief and to the Swedish PM, who holds the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called for the bloc to be «more creative in examining the possible scope and further options to enhance the impact of our measures.»
«In our opinion, during the extraordinary European Council in February, we should have a conclusive political discussion, followed by a concrete guidance to the Commission. This guidance will be the basis for the legislative proposal on the use of the frozen assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction, drafted without undue delay,» they wrote.
09:03
Zelensky lobbies for ‘wings for liberty’
The Ukrainian President wants planes, and more heavy weapons and he wants them fast. Ukrainian forces are expecting Russia to start a new major military offensive to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war on 24 February.
So in London, he told MPs: «We have freedom. Give us wings to protect it.»
And in Paris, he told Macron and Scholz: «The sooner Ukraine gets long-range heavy weaponry, the sooner our pilots get planes, the sooner this Russian aggression will end.»
08:35
What’s on the agenda
Ukraine was always going to be on the agenda as leaders convene in Brussels, as it has been since the war broke out nearly a year ago.
But with Zelenskyy in the room, discussions on military support may be even more pronounced. The Ukrainian leader now wants the West to provide planes for his armies and in London secured training for pilots.
This comes less than two weeks after Germany caved and agreed to provide Ukrainian forces with Leopard 2 tanks.
Leaders will also get a recap of what was discussed at the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv last week.
But support for Ukraine is not the only issue leaders will tackle
They will also discuss how the bloc can protect and boost the competitiveness of its clean tech industries following the rollout in the US of the Inflation Reduction Act through which hundreds of billions of dollars will be lavished onto US-based manufacturers over the next decade.
And finally, migration and how to curb irregular arrivals, boost cooperation, and crucially solidarity among member states and enhance the protection of the external border.
08:24
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the EU Council summit in Brussels, made all the more special by the attendance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.