European Union leaders declared on Thursday (June 29) they would make long-term commitments to bolster Ukraine's security as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged them to start work on a new round of sanctions against Russia, Reuters reports.
At a summit in Brussels, the leaders restated their condemnation of Russia's war against Ukraine and said the EU and its member countries "stand ready" to contribute to commitments that would help Ukraine defend itself in the long term.
In a text summarizing the conclusions of the summit, the leaders said they would swiftly consider the form these commitments would take.
Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief, suggested they could build on existing EU support, such as the European Peace Facility fund that has financed billions of euros in arms for Ukraine and a training mission for Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine has argued the best way to assure its own security and that of Europe is for it to join NATO. But Kyiv has acknowledged that is not possible during the war and NATO allies are divided over how quickly it could happen afterwards.
