EUROPEAN leaders are set to agree on boosting defence spending and reaffirming support for Ukraine at a summit on Thursday, March 6, following Donald Trump’s suspension of military aid to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was invited to meet with the leaders of the EU’s 27 member states at the summit being held in Brussels.
The meeting comes amid significant defence policy shifts, driven by concerns that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, could target an EU country next.
Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration’s outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin has sparked fears across Europe that the continent could no longer depend on U.S. support for its security.
French President Macron said on Wednesday, February 5, that his country was open to discussing extending its nuclear arsenal’s protection to European partners during a national address.
“I want to believe that the United States will stand by us. But we have to be ready if that is not the case,” Macron said.
He stressed that Russia had become a threat to all of Europe.
“Faced with this world of danger, remaining a spectator would be madness,”.
This came after Friedrich Merz, who seeks to become Germany’s next chancellor, called for talks on expanding nuclear sharing on Tuesday, March 4.
The ICIR reported that the European leaders announced their plan to draft a peace plan for Ukraine on Monday, March 3, which would be presented to the United States.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the move as a crucial step for Washington to offer security guarantees — a demand Kyiv considers essential to ending its conflict with Moscow.
The development followed a meeting at the White House, where Zelenskiy clashed with Trump and was eventually ordered out of the Oval Office.
Following the clash, on March 4, Trump ordered a suspension of all U.S. military aid to Ukraine. The following day, on Wednesday, March 5, the US also paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Trump is planning to temporarily revoke legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the war, potentially putting them on a fast-track to deportation.
A senior Trump official and three other sources told Reuters on Thursday, March 6, that the move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under Joe Biden’s administration.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.