EU leaders pledged to look over the next month at boosting ammunition production for Ukraine’s war effort as it faces fresh challenges from Russia.
EU Council President Charles Michel said the bloc need to “cooperate with the industrial sector and to ensure that we can speed up the level of production of ammunition and that they can also fulfill the commitments that are needed.”
And EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that a new 10-billion euro sanctions package under discussion would center on goods that are almost irreplaceable.
“We look deep into the war machinery of Russia, where we can define either technologies or spare parts that are being used by the military complex,” she said.
During his time in Brussels, Zelenskyy asked Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger to give Ukraine its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, and he replied: “We will work on” the request. Slovakia grounded its fleet of MiG-29s last year.
Macron didn’t rule out sending French fighter jets to Ukraine, but said Zelenskyy didn’t ask for them and they were not Ukraine’s most urgent need. “In no case could warplanes be delivered in the coming weeks,” Macron said, notably because of the necessary training. He said France may consider “intensifying’’ deliveries of other equipment such as artillery or missile systems.
The commitments came after an emotional day at EU headquarters in Brussels where Zelenskyy wrapped up a rare, two-day trip outside Ukraine to seek new weaponry from the West to repel the invasion that Moscow has been waging for nearly a year. As he spoke, a new offensive by Russia in eastern Ukraine was under way.
Zelenskyy, who also visited the U.K. and France, received rapturous applause and cheers from the European Parliament and a summit of the 27 EU leaders, insisting in his speech that the fight with Russia was one for the freedom of all of Europe.
“A Ukraine that is winning is going to be member of the European Union,” Zelenskyy said, building his appeal around the common destiny that Ukraine and the bloc face in confronting Russia.
“Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long as we … take care of the European way of life,” he said.
EU membership talks should start later this year, Zelenskyy said, an ambitious request given the huge task ahead. Such a move would help motivate Ukrainian soldiers in their defense of the country, he said.
“Of course we need it this year,“ he said, then looked at European Council head Charles Michel, and insisted, tongue-in-cheek: “When I say this year, I mean this year. Two, zero, 23.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, however, said “there is no rigid timeline.” In practice, membership often has taken decades to complete.