EU leaders rally around Ukraine as Zelenskyy seeks €70bn

European Union leaders rallied around Ukraine at a Brussels summit as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the bloc to find at least €70 billion for defence, weapons and resilience in 2027. He said the war would cost Ukraine €155 billion next year and accused Russia of treating peace diplomacy as a “parody.”

The appeal came after Russian attacks struck nine Ukrainian regions, causing emergency power cuts for hundreds of thousands of households and injuring at least 15 people, according to Ukrainian officials cited by the Associated Press. Zelenskyy said disruptions to the US-made Starshield communications system were easing but had not been fully resolved. A US official denied that President Donald Trump had ordered a deliberate slowdown.

The summit also exposed widening strain between Kyiv and Washington. Zelenskyy criticised a US diesel arrangement with Russia, while Trump condemned Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian refineries. European leaders promised continued backing, but no complete financing package was announced at the meeting. The €70 billion figure is therefore a request, not money already approved. The next test is whether member states can turn political support into a budget and military deliveries before winter pressure on Ukraine’s power system intensifies.