The News
European Union leaders failed to agree a €5 billion ($5.4 billion) military aid package for Ukraine at a summit in Brussels Thursday, as the continent struggles to unite on a strategy to rearm itself and assert influence on peace talks with Russia.
The package faltered after France and Italy “hesitated to commit to specific financial contributions,” Euro News Reported. Tensions also rose over the failure to put forward a senior figure to represent the bloc in US-led negotiations with Russia, according to Bloomberg.
There was greater consensus on imposing fresh sanctions on Russia, although Hungary — which has grown more willing to diverge from the EU on Ukraine — declined to take part.
Few countries have committed to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine, the focus of a separate summit in London Thursday. “A major concern is that coalition troops could get sucked into a hot war with Russia without substantial US support to back them up,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Europe has been racing to build regional defense plans in the absence of the US, a stark signal of the radical reconfiguring of the global security order since US President Donald Trump took office. US defense manufacturers are being frozen out of new EU defense spending plans. European leaders are also discussing reducing American involvement in NATO.
