Bloomberg: The EU defense ministers to meet to discuss support for Ukraine

France and Estonia are convening an online meeting of European defense ministers on February 24, the anniversary of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. They want to discuss how to strengthen support for Ukraine.

Bloomberg writes about this, citing sources.

The video conference will be attended by more than ten heads of the Ministries of Defense, including Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, as well as representatives of the European Union and NATO.

European leaders are scrambling to develop new defense plans as the United States looks to end its military and financial support for Ukraine. Washington is also taking steps to push for peace talks that exclude Europe and Ukraine, a move that could affect the continent’s security architecture for years to come.

On the anniversary of the large-scale Russian invasion, the European Union also plans to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine worth at least €6 billion. It is expected to include artillery shells, air defense systems and equipment for the Ukrainian military.

However, Hungary has already said it will veto the initiative. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Budapest believes the new aid “is intended to strengthen Kyiv’s position in the negotiations, rather than to contribute to peace”.

• France has previously held two informal summits with European and Canadian leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron organized the first emergency meeting with EU leaders on February 17, amid the US announcing the start of talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine without the participation of Europe and Kyiv. One of the key issues was sending troops to Ukraine to monitor a possible peace agreement. This was also the main argument of the evening. Macron proposed placing European peacekeeping forces behind the future demarcation line in Ukraine, rather than directly on it. Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland opposed it.
• At the second meeting, the countries expressed their willingness to assume full responsibility for peace and security in Europe and outlined three points on which peacekeeping efforts should be based.

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