European leaders have rallied around the Ukrainian president in the face of US jitters over defence funding, promising to never waver in their support for the country.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the gathering of 47 European leaders was testimony to the strength of support in the fight to defeat Vladimir Putin.
“This a strong message for Putin from Dublin to Chișinău that we do not tolerate aggression against a sovereign state.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was imperative Europe remained united, after a Russian missile strike in the Kharkiv region killed dozens of people, including a six-year-old boy.
“The main challenge is to save unity in Europe not only in the EU but in all of Europe,” said Zelenskiy, warning of Russian “disinformation attacks”.
The gathering at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Granada, Spain, gave leaders including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, a chance to restate their commitment to Ukraine after political turbulence in the US and Europe raised questions about continued support.
In the US, a dispute among the Republican majority in the House of Representatives has complicated budget negotiations and prompted Joe Biden to go from confidence that an agreement will be made on Ukraine aid to openly expressing concern.
“It does worry me,” the US president said on Wednesday, though he added that a majority of US lawmakers continued to support funding Ukraine.
Zelenskiy told reporters in Granada that after speaking to Biden earlier this week he was assured of “100% support” from the US.
Von der Leyen and Scholz echoed this, saying they were “very confident” that the US would continue backing Ukraine. But in Europe, cracks in the unified front have started to appear.
In Slovakia, the former prime minister Robert Fico’s party came first in a parliamentary election on pledges of halting military aid to Ukraine, while the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said in the run-up to a general election that Warsaw would no longer send weapons to Ukraine.
Some Ukrainian, EU and Nato officials have played down these developments, saying support for Kyiv would ultimately hold steady as it was in the west’s own interests.
Efforts continued at the EPC to bring stability to Armenia after the conflict with Azerbaijan, which boycotted the summit in Spain over the EU’s support for Armenia.
Speaking to reporters at the close of the EPC, Macron denounced Azerbaijan for taking military action in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying the French government’s position was correct even if Baku considered it biased in Armenia’s favour.
“France has no problem with Azerbaijan but Azerbaijan seems to have a problem with international law,” Macron said. Sanctions against Azerbaijan would be counterproductive at this point, he added.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he hoped to broker talks between the two countries by the end of the month.
