The meeting, which the Ukrainian president also attended, Volodymyr Zelenskyhas been summoned by the new secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Ruttetaking advantage of the presence of European leaders in the Belgian capital to attend the summit with the Balkans and the European Council.
The guest list has not been confirmed, but different sources say that the French president, Emmanuel Macron; the german chancellor, Olaf Scholz; the polish president, Andrej Duda; the british prime minister, Keir Starmer; and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
“The Secretary General will meet with President Zelensky on Wednesday. Several European leaders are in Brussels for the European Council meeting and some of them may come together to discuss current support for Ukraine, in particular air defense,” a NATO official explained to this newspaper.
What is confirmed is that the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezwill not attend this mini-summit of the Atlantic Alliance, although he is in Brussels. This is a Rutte initiative within the framework of the usual format of conversation of the European members of the G7 with Zelensky, with the addition of Poland (which will hold the rotating presidency of the EU from January 1), in which Spain has never participated, justify government sources.
Trump’s return to the White House and its impact on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will also be the central topic on the agenda of the European Council, which takes place on Thursday, one day after the NATO mini-summit. Given the possibility that the new president forces peace negotiations in 2025, Sánchez’s position is that nothing can be decided about the future of Ukraine without Ukrainenor anything about the European security architecture without the Europeans.
Spain also does not plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine to monitor a possible ceasefire that freezes the war on the front line, that is, with Russia retaining the occupied territories. Trump himself has raised the presence of European troops in Ukraine to Zelensky and Macron, as published by the Wall Street Journal. “It is not something that Spain is considering”assured this Monday the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.
Also the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Common Security, Kaja Kallashas cooled this possibility. “First there must be peaceto be able to send peacekeepers and Russia does not want peace. That is very clear,” the head of European diplomacy said this Monday.
However, other sources consider “inevitable” that this issue begins to be discussed in the European Council since it is a request from Trump and they assume that the French president will bring it up, who was the first to put on the table the possibility of sending community troops to Ukraine already last February. The mini-summit of European powers in NATO could be another forum in which the issue is addressed.
According to the draft conclusions of the summit, European leaders demand acceleration of military aid to Ukrainein particular the delivery of air defense systems, ammunition and missions. In the debate, Sánchez plans to demand the unlocking of the 6.6 billion euros from the European Peace Fund that Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has vetoed for many months.
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