BRUSSELS — European Union leaders rallied around President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit on Friday as US President Donald Trump fired another salvo at Ukraine, calling its strikes on Russian refineries a “disgrace”.
Speaking to US media on Thursday evening, Trump also called said the Ukrainian leader is “more difficult to deal with” than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The EU is hosting Zelensky in Brussels at one of the most difficult moments for Ukraine, with missiles and drones raining down on Ukrainian cities and fears that the US could pull back intelligence sharing and weapons support from Kyiv.
Trump blindsided Zelensky last weekend by announcing that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities. Facing US midterm elections in November, Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for pushing up energy prices that could cost him at the ballot box.
The US has also struck a diesel deal with Russia, angering Ukraine and European allies.
Zelensky had paused the attacks for three days at Trump’s request for a ceasefire on energy targets, but said on Thursday the strikes would resume because Moscow had never stopped.
“We want to end this war as quick as possible. We don’t see now signals from the Russian side that they are ready for this, to end this war. That’s why we have to prepare for the winter,” Zelensky said as he arrived at the summit, hugging many of the leaders as he met them.
In the latest attacks, Russian drone strikes on the city of Kharkiv killed three people, while strikes elsewhere left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery after Zelensky declared that Kyiv was abandoning the energy ceasefire that Trump had announced.
“All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” Trump said in an interview with the Newsmax news outlet.
Zelensky has not commented on Trump’s latest criticism. He arrived at the summit in Brussels flanked by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
“Of course we supported President Trump’s energy ceasefire but we’ve seen that Russia did not respect it, not a single minute,” Von der Leyen told reporters. “Russia escalated and therefore we have to increase sanctions on Russia… We will not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war.”
Moscow said it had never agreed to the energy ceasefire that Trump suddenly announced last week.
In an interview, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Reuters that the EU would probably have to provide a new loan to Ukraine to help cover its budget gap for next year.
“Last winter was already hell, this one will be once again like hell,” Michal said. “We have a lot of gaps to fill, and this is a European mission to fill the gaps that Ukraine needs.”
Ukraine’s leadership has been alarmed by disruptions to the SpaceX Starshield satellite system used by Kyiv for battlefield communications and drone operations. A source in Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Thursday that Starshield receptors were only working at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph), complicating their use for military missions.
A US official has denied that Trump ordered a deliberate slowdown of Starshield, which is the military-grade version of the Starlink service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Trump said this week intelligence sharing with Ukraine continued.
Europe does not have a ready-made alternative to Starlink, although European governments and companies are working on long-term options.
“Starlink is really necessary for Ukraine. And unfortunately, in short term, Europe can’t replace this capability,” said the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“We are working on the new sanctions package to put the pressure on Russia, and we of course hope that we do this with all our partners around the world,” she added.
While EU leaders hit out at the US deal to buy Russian diesel, they are also grappling with how to tackle energy prices that have soared since the Iran war, exposing divisions between member states on day one of the summit on Thursday.
The EU summit’s agenda will focus on funding for Ukraine, and helping it get through another cold winter — the fifth since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“Russia is trying everything to destroy the energy and water infrastructure,” Von der Leyen told Zelensky before the summit began, “but we stand by your side, we support you as we did in the other winters.”
Trump is frustrated at Ukraine’s continued targeting of Russian oil refineries because the US recently announced a deal to import 300,000 tons of Russian diesel to the American market, in an effort to bring down fuel prices.
Source: Saudi Gazette