Europe faces a clear and present danger, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on arrival at a special meeting of the European Council on March 6 in Brussels to discuss continued support for Ukraine and European defence.
“We must be able to defend ourselves and put Ukraine in a position of strength,” said Von der Leyen, standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Council President António Costa.
Von der Leyen referred to the ReArm Europe plan that the European Commission proposed to EU leaders.
The plan, she said, would “boost defence spending, strengthen our defence industrial base and push the private sector to invest”.
Costa said that the security and defence of Europe were not separate from Ukraine’s security and defence.
“We are here to support Ukraine for a comprehensive and lasting peace,” he said.
Zelenskyy, who was specially invited to attend the European Council meeting, expressed his thanks to European leaders for such strong support, from the very beginning of the war.
“During all this period, and last week, you stayed with us,” Zelenskyy said.
“We are not alone, and these are not just words, we feel it. You made a strong signal to the Ukrainian people, to Ukrainian warriors, Ukrainian families, it’s great we are not alone,” he said.
Zelenskyy said that increasing European security was a great decision.
Ukrainian opposition leaders reject US suggestions of wartime election
Meanwhile, Ukrainian opposition leaders have dismissed the idea of holding a wartime election, after a media report of contacts between them and US officials and in the wake of President Donald Trump calling his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” for not holding one, Reuters reports.
Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday his team was working with US “partners” to maintain support for Ukraine – but he added that he was opposed to a wartime election.
In a written statement published on Telegram, Poroshenko said elections should only happen after peace had been established. He added that a vote should take place no later than 180 days after the end of the war.
Yuliia Tymoshenko, another opposition leader, said her team “is talking with all our allies who can help in securing a just peace as soon as possible,” and said that elections should not take place before this had been achieved.
Politico reported on Wednesday that four senior members of Trump’s entourage had held discussions with some of Zelenskiy’s top political opponents.
The talks were held with Tymoshenko and senior members of the party of Poroshenko, who was president from 2014 to 2019, Politico reported, citing three Ukrainian lawmakers and a U.S. Republican foreign policy expert.
The discussions focused on whether Ukraine could have quick presidential elections, according to the report.