European Union fails to agree on joint position on Ukraine support

The European Union failed on Thursday to agree on a joint position on support for Ukraine after Hungary did not back a statement pledging further support for Kiev.

A draft of the declaration, backed by the remaining 26 EU countries, reaffirmed the EU's existing position on the war in Ukraine, stressed the need for a just and lasting peace and the bloc's commitment to continued aid for Kiev including military support.

Following the suspension of US military aid, EU support for Ukraine was to be reaffirmed in a joint statement at a special leaders' summit in Brussels.

Kremlin-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán already announced his veto last Saturday in a letter to European Council President António Costa, mentioning "strategic differences in our approach to Ukraine."

In his letter, Orbán called instead for last week's United Nations resolution to be endorsed that called for a rapid end to the war but did not name Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine.

The resolution, which was adopted by the UN Security Council on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was brought forward by the US government.

Arriving at the meeting, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed her support for Ukraine and the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the opening of the summit.

"This is a watershed moment for Europe," said von der Leyen.

"Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for a lasting and just peace," she added.

EU leaders backed plans to significantly increase investments in defence aiming to rearm the bloc.

The EU "will reinforce its overall defence readiness, reduce its strategic dependencies, address its critical capability gaps and strengthen the European defence technological and industrial base," a joint declaration on defence read.

"Europe must become more sovereign, more responsible for its own defence and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats," it read.

EU leaders discussed a €150 billion ($162.4 billion) fund pitched by the European Commission with hopes to mobilize some €800 billion in total thanks to additional funding from the European Investment Bank and private capital.

Leaders backed the easing of the EU's usually strict debt and deficit rules to allow countries to sharply increase military spending.

"There is no doubt that the war in Ukraine, the new approach of the American administration toward Europe, and, above all, the arms race initiated by Russia ... pose entirely new challenges for us," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arriving at the meeting.

"And Europe must take up this challenge, this arms race. And it must win it," Tusk added.

EU countries and Ukraine are alarmed by the prospect of the US and Russia seeking a peace settlement bilaterally which could grant Moscow territorial concessions, exclude Ukraine from NATO and close the door on US participation in future peacekeeping operations.

EU countries worry that a peace deal favouring Russia could allow Moscow to attack Ukraine again and possibly other European countries.

The thread posed by Russia and the US' U-turn triggered a new debate about nuclear deterrence among EU leaders.

Ahead of the EU summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he is considering placing allied European countries under the protection of French nuclear weapons.

Macron was following up on a suggestion by likely new German chancellor Friedrich Merz to hold talks with western European nuclear powers over an umbrella approach.

Germany's complicated post-war history means that it did not develop its own nuclear weapons.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday expressed caution regarding Macron's proposal, as he arrived at the EU summit.

When asked by a journalist, Scholz referred to NATO's system of nuclear deterrence, which is based on stationing US nuclear weapons in some European countries including in Germany.

According to expert estimates, the US still has around 100 nuclear bombs stationed in Europe, some of which are said to be stored at the Büchel airbase in Germany's Eifel region. In an emergency, they are to be deployed by Bundeswehr fighter jets.

Other EU leaders, including Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden, welcomed the idea.