The EU’s 27 leaders have finished a working lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meal-time discussions are unscripted, and the heads of state and government can freely speak, often in English, but also in their own languages without any obvious time constraints.
Early Thursday morning, EU envoys finished drafting a summit statement for the leaders to endorse. The text, seen by The Associated Press, insists there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine and that the Europeans must be involved in any talks involving their security.
The text could still change before the summit concludes. It also says that a ceasefire can only happen as part of a process leading to a full peace agreement. Any agreement, the leaders would say, must be accompanied by “robust and credible security guarantees for Ukraine.”
Hungary has threatened to veto parts of the statement relating to Ukraine, but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán entered the European Council building in Brussels via an alternate entrance, avoiding the waiting media.
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