EU suspends development of new €20bn military aid package for Ukraine

The European Union is temporarily suspending the development of a new €20 billion aid plan for Ukraine.

This was reported by Politico.

According to the publication, the item on assistance to Ukraine has disappeared from the summit agenda, proposed by Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas, and has been removed from the latest draft conclusions to be considered by EU ambassadors today.

They also added that the change came after Hungary vetoed the previous version of the document.

The publication's sources believe that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is likely to offer more creative ways to get countries to support Ukraine. According to him, one of the options could be to require that 20% of the loan funds allocated for defence spending be used to help Ukraine.

As a reminder, US President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of all military aid to Ukraine, increasing pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is worth noting that Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the foreign policy approaches of the Donald Trump administration «largely» correspond to the Kremlin's position. At the same time, he acknowledged that relations between the US and Russia still have a long way to go to improve, but that with political will, it can be «overcome quite quickly».

The dispute in the Oval Office

As a reminder, the meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, 28 February, was ended early. The conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the White House turned heated.

According to CNN sources, after the public part of the conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended, the American president and his advisers went into a separate room. It was then that Donald Trump finally decided that Volodymyr Zelenskyy «was not in the right place to negotiate», and instructed Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to convey the message that the Ukrainian president should leave.

In turn, after the failure to sign the US subsoil deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States, President Trump and Congress.

In an interview with Fox News, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that such disputes are not good for both sides, but the President of Ukraine cannot «change our Ukrainian attitude towards the Russians» and does not want them to continue killing Ukrainians.

A number of European leaders, as well as American politicians, have expressed support for Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed Ukrainians and Zelensky on the social media platform X with the following words: «Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian friends, you are not alone».

French President Emmanuel Macron also said that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the state that has been aggressed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed support for Kyiv, writing: «Ukraine, Spain stands with you». President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen addressed Volodymyr with the following words: «Be strong, be brave, be fearless».

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said after the argument in the White House that it was time for Europe to unite around Ukraine and strengthen its defence without illusions about «Big Brother».

In his turn, the leader of the «Servant of the People» faction, David Arakhamiia , supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the White House dispute and stressed that the head of state wanted to put an end to the war.

After a spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump ordered the National Security Staff to check whether Washington could completely or temporarily stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.