Ukraine latest news: Zelensky invited to visit EU next year to discuss further support for war effort

The president of the 27 leaders of the European Union, Charles Michel, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will hold a summit with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on February 3 next year, he said Thursday. an EU spokesperson.

The location of the summit has yet to be determined.

“I can confirm that the EU-Ukraine summit will take place on February 3 and there is an open invitation to President Zelensky to visit Brussels,” said Barend Leyts, the president’s spokesman for EU leaders.

He said that the invitation for Zelensky to visit Brussels did not mean that the summit would take place there.

The officials said the topic of the summit was likely to be how the EU can continue to support Ukraine against Russia. The leaders of the two key EU institutions, the Commission and the council of EU leaders, will also assess Ukraine’s path towards membership of the bloc.

Zelensky has made regular appearances via video link at EU summits since the start of the Russian invasion in February. He made his first in-person trip since the start of the war to Washington on Wednesday.

Russia said on Thursday that US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington, would not help resolve the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

In a call with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of sending Patriot: “This is not conducive to a quick deal, quite the contrary. And this cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals during the special military operation”, using Russia. deadline for war.

Peskov said there were no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskiy’s visit on Wednesday, showing the US was waging a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”.

Congress is considering government funding of $1.7 trillion, and supporters point to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit this week as another reason to promote the measure in a show of support for the embattled nation.

The measure includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, even on top of President Joe Biden’s emergency request, and ensures funds flow for the war effort in the coming months. The move would also boost US defense spending by about 10% to $858 billion, addressing concerns from some lawmakers that more investment is needed in the nation’s military to ensure the security of the United States. Joined.

Both chambers will need to approve the measure before midnight Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The 27 European Union heads of state and government and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold a summit in February next year, but the venue has not been determined.

“I can confirm that the EU-Ukraine summit will take place on February 3 and there is an open invitation to President Zelenskiy to visit Brussels,” said Barend Leyts, the president’s spokesman for EU leaders.

The spokesman said that the invitation for President Zelensky to visit Brussels did not mean that the summit would be held there.

The officials said the topic of the summit was likely to be how the EU can continue to support Ukraine against Russia. The leaders would also assess Ukraine’s path to bloc membership.

President Zelensky has made regular appearances via video link at EU summits since the start of the Russian invasion in February. He made his first in-person trip since the start of the war to Washington on Wednesday.

the independent‘s Andrew Buncombe explores the issue in his latest Voices column.

As the months passed, the US involvement in the conflict also became deeper and more intertwined.

Initially, the US was content to ask Putin to withdraw his forces. Soon, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called for Russia to “weaken” as a nation and not be able to launch such an operation again. Earlier this month, the US caved in to Kyiv’s demands and sent in its most capable defense system, the Patriot missile.

If there was any lingering doubt that what’s happening in Ukraine now is an all-out proxy war for the US, it was dispatched with Zelensky’s visit to Washington DC this week, his first visit outside the country since the war began. invasion.

Talks with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, over a safe zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is in Russian hands, would continue, Moscow’s state-owned nuclear power company said. Rosatom.

The firm said the two parties’ positions were “close” to each other.

ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was asked by a reporter from his own country about what a “just peace” with Russia it would seem, and the wartime leader offered a philosophical response.

speaking with the president Joe Biden in his first appearance with a world leader outside of Ukraine Ever since the invasion of Russia began, Zelensky has pontificated on the meaning of that phrase and whether coming to such a peaceful end to the war was even possible in its current state.

First, he described his own definition of such a resolution: “[N]or commitment regarding the sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity of my country”, as well as reparations for the damages inflicted by the Russian forces during their invasion. Presumably, this would mean the end of the Russian occupation of the breakaway regions annexed by Moscow after the conflict began in 2014.

But Zelensky went on to say that for many parents of people killed by Russian forces in the brutal war, a “just peace” would mean seeking revenge for the deaths of their loved ones.

john bowden has the details.

The presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Wednesday puts a dramatic exclamation point on the Biden administration’s latest announcement of military aid to the war-torn nation.

In ways big and small, the massive $1.85 billion package will expand the capabilities of Zelenskyy’s troops to knock out Russian airstrikes and continue counteroffensives to push back invading troops. It also allows the president Joe Biden to fulfill his commitment to one of Zelenskyy’s most pressing battlefield requests: a Patriot missile battery.

And there is more help to come. Beyond the assistance announced Wednesday, Congress is set to approve an additional $45 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The money is part of a huge government funding bill that would support Ukraine not just next year, but in some cases as late as 2025, ensuring continued assistance even as the House changes hands to Republican control.

lolita baldor Y copper country have the story

Volodymyr Zelensky told the US Congress that aid to Ukraine is an investment in democracy, not charity, as he sought to assuage Republican concerns about the size of funds given to Ukraine since the war began, before they take office. control of the House of Representatives in a fortnight.

“Your money is not charity. It is an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” the Ukrainian president told a joint session of the House and Senate.

The world was too interconnected to allow any country to step aside and feel safe, he added.

Belarus has likely recently begun “quietly” training thousands of newly mobilized Russian reservists, and Moscow’s reliance on forces it normally sees as inferior to its own is a sign of “excessive excess” in Ukraine, the UK has said.

“The likely use of Belarusian trainers is an attempt to partially remedy the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties,” the British Ministry of Defense said, in an “intelligence update”. following Putin’s visit to Minsk on Monday.

“Although Russia and Belarus have extensive experience in military cooperation, the training of mobilized Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a reversal of roles.

“Belarusian forces have traditionally been viewed by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overload within the Russian military system.”