Denmark premier: no European leaders asked Zelenskyy to soften Trump criticism
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on October 16 called on European Union leaders gathered at a Brussels summit to maintain financial support for Ukraine through 2027, warning that Kyiv is running out of funds amid tensions with the US as winter is “fast approaching.”
Speaking at the European Council building in Brussels, Frederiksen urged continued EU support for Ukraine. “We must continue to support Ukraine. Otherwise we are making things far too easy for the Russians,” she said.
She warned that “fighting a war is expensive” and that in many cases Ukraine cannot produce the equipment it needs, particularly for air defense. “As a result, you can see that the Russians are striking Ukrainian society much, much harder than they were not that long ago,” she said.
Frederiksen stressed that the EU must ensure there is sufficient funding in place for 2027.
She also pushed back against suggestions of closer relations with Moscow, warning that Russia continues to “seek to seize parts of Europe” and “wages war against Europe every single day, directly in Ukraine and through a hybrid war against the rest of us.”
“If Russia wanted peace, they could simply stop the war,” she said.
The Danish prime minister dismissed media reports that some European leaders had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to tone down his criticism of US President Donald Trump. “I haven’t heard any European leaders say that,” she said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, also at the summit, pledged that the EU would “not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war,” according to the Guardian’s live coverage of the meeting.
Frederiksen acknowledged the situation is “very difficult given tensions with the US just as winter is fast approaching.”