“The summit of EU leaders will start on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., initially Zelenskyi will join it, later discussions of Ukraine will continue already in the circle of leaders – without Zelenskyi’s participation”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“EU leaders will focus primarily on Ukraine’s financial needs over the next two years… Essentially, the idea is to provide a widely supported political mandate for the European Commission and its work on the proposal, which will also include the possible use or gradual use of cash balances related to immobilized assets,” the EU official emphasized.
In essence, the leaders should give the European Commission a roadmap to create a concrete proposal on the use of frozen assets that takes into account the concerns of member states.
“If [Європейська – ред.] The Council will be able to provide a mandate formulated with certain important conditions for the member states, I think, then we would make an extremely important contribution to the advancement of this debate and would be able to have a stable, viable and strong proposal for a financial solution for Ukraine,” the official stressed.
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According to him, there is also hope for progress regarding the 19th package of sanctions, the approval of which is blocked by Slovakia.
The official also mentioned the diplomatic efforts aimed at ensuring peace in Ukraine.
“We know that Ukraine is ready to join these diplomatic efforts. We are also ready to support Ukraine in this… We hope that the diplomatic efforts being made, which we welcome, can lead to a good result. And a good result is one that is permanent, fair and accepted by Ukraine,” the official said, repeating that “it is Ukraine that must make decisions regarding territorial issues and its borders, and that all negotiations must have a starting point – the existing line of confrontation.”
Commenting on the possible summit of the presidents of the USA and Russia in Budapest, the official noted that there is currently a lot of information missing about this event, and did not predict whether EU leaders would discuss it with the Prime Minister of Hungary at the summit.
“I do not want to predict that the leaders will discuss with Prime Minister Orban directly or bilaterally. But, according to our plan, Prime Minister Orbán will not take part in the discussion regarding Ukraine, as he will arrive only in the middle of the day, and the discussion of Ukraine will be the first item,” the official emphasized.
Earlier today, a joint statement by Volodymyr Zelenskyi and a number of European leaders was published, in which, among other things, it is emphasized that Ukraine is the only side of the war that is serious about peace, and pressure on Russia should be increased.
“We are all united in our desire for a just and lasting peace, which the people of Ukraine deserve. We strongly support President Trump’s position that hostilities must cease immediately and that the current contact line should be the starting point for negotiations,” the leaders said in a statement.
It is also emphasized that international borders should not be changed by force – this corresponds to the generally accepted line of Europe. According to the document, Russia has chosen delaying tactics, which indicates the seriousness of its intentions regarding peace talks exclusively in Ukraine.