Ukraine took the second day of the European Council in Brussels. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended in person, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared with him and Council President Antonio Costa ahead of the session, a deliberate show of alignment a day after Washington temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel, a move covered here on October 15.
European capitals lined up behind Kyiv in public. France’s President Emmanuel Macron said Ukraine had to be given the means to protect itself, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Ukrainians they were not alone, and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned that the diesel arrangement hands Moscow legitimacy and revenue while blunting sanctions. Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the deal a gift to Vladimir Putin and asked what he had given in return. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev broke ranks, criticising Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and welcoming any step that lowers fuel prices.
The solidarity came with little money attached. No fresh decisions on financing Kyiv were planned for this summit, and the use of frozen Russian assets was not on the formal agenda, according to reporting on the draft conclusions. Kyiv arrived asking for more: a senior Ukrainian official said European support still falls short of need and that Ukraine is working on European alternatives to US air defences and Starlink satellite communications. Draft language also covers a ban on moving grain taken by Russia from occupied Ukrainian territory through the EU, and help with Ukraine’s winter preparations.
The bloc’s own finances consumed the first day and remain open. Leaders are still divided over the 2028 to 2034 budget, worth almost 2 trillion euros, and Costa has taken personal charge of the negotiations ahead of a special summit in late November. On China, draft conclusions would have leaders ask the Commission to keep talking to Beijing while making full use of trade defence measures and adding new protective instruments, against a goods trade deficit of 360 billion euros in 2025. Status: summit concluding, formal conclusions not yet published when this edition closed.