EU seeks unity on Ukraine and defence boost as Trump pivots from allies

BRUSSELS — EU leaders gather with VolodymyrZelensky Thursday in Brussels in search of unity on bolstering Ukraine and Europe's defences after Donald Trump upended traditional US alliances and retracted wartime backing of Kyiv.

Thursday's summit brings all 27 EU leaders together for the first time since last week's explosive meeting between presidents Trump and Zelensky, with Washington since suspending military aid and intelligence sharing to help Kyiv fight off Russia's invasion.

This has sent Ukraine's allies scrambling, with EU leaders openly questioning Washington's reliability as a security partner going forward.

While the Brussels meeting will aim to cement European support for Kyiv, it is unlikely to yield any major announcements of aid beyond the 30 billion euros the bloc has already committed for this year.

The prospect of the United States pivoting from its European partners in NATO has fuelled a growing consensus on the summit's other major topic: the need to strengthen Europe's defences against Russia.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has laid out a plan aimed at mobilising 800 billion euros to "re-arm Europe", largely by freeing states to spend much more, which leaders are expected to greenlight Thursday.

"Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us has seen in our adult lifetime," she wrote to leaders, urging Europe to "act as decisively as the situation dictates."

France's President Emmanuel Macron doubled down in a sombre address to the nation on the summit's eve, calling for a defence spending surge to confront a "new era" and saying he would discuss extending France's nuclear deterrent to European partners.

"Who can believe that this Russia of today will stop at Ukraine?" Macron asked. "I want to believe that the United States will stay by our side, but we have to be prepared for that not to be the case."

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, who conferred with EU chiefs in Brussels ahead of the talks, has likewise declared himself ready for "the worst-case scenario" and embraced radical reforms to ramp up Germany defence spending.