Zelensky to EU leaders: “We defend Europe, now help us”

Brussels – “We are defending Europe, Europe must help us.” It is a call to order and seriousness that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, addresses to the heads of state and government meeting in Brussels to try to figure out how to help Kyiv financially using the frozen Russian assets. There is still the resistance of Belgium, the perplexity of Hungary, and the legal implications, even worrying the European Central Bank, and preventing that decision, both political and in attitude, that the Ukrainian leader would like to see but, on the contrary, does not. 

“Do the legal aspects really scare you more than the Russian presence on the border of Europe?, asks and complains an irritated Zelensky. His country needs money to keep going, for its military response to the Russian army and for its everyday functioning as a state. The Ukrainian president says that he expects the circle to be squared “by the end of the year,” and then specifies “this year,” 2025, and therefore urges the partners so that, at the latest, immediately after Christmas, the green light desired in Kyiv and sought in Brussels can be given. 

Zelensky therefore spurs on the allies, both the European ones and those across the Atlantic. Because, despite everything, he sees US President Donald Trump as a key figure. “The United States can put an end to the war” between Russia and Ukraine, he emphasises, and not without reason. “They are mediating, it is true, but they could exert more pressure.” This is the criticism aimed at the White House, which Zelensky wants to reiterate and reinforce: “I believe that Putin does not want to stop, but could do so if subjected to more pressure.” 

The role of the EU is therefore to exert this pressure. With this in mind, Zelensky stresses the need for the EU to be present at the negotiating table and, even before that, at the negotiating process conducted thus far by Washington and Moscow. “I understand that they want to exclude Europe, but this must not be allowed; for us, its presence is important.”