Ukraine War Latest: Zelenskiy to address EU leaders at Brussels summit

Zelenskiy is to address EU leaders at Brussels summit. CityNews Nigeria reports.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to address European Union leaders at an emergency summit later today to push for new sanctions against Russia.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels to declare their continued support for Ukraine but have so far failed to agree on a new sanctions package against Moscow.

Over two days, leaders of the 27-nation bloc are to discuss how best to aid Ukraine and how to deal with the conflict’s impacts: high energy prices, an impending food shortage and the EU’s defence needs.

But draft conclusions of the meeting, seen by Reuters, showed that while the EU will be generous with verbal support for the government in Kyiv, there will be little in terms of new decisions on any of the main topics.

German economy minister, Robert Habeck, had a slightly more pessimistic stance on Sunday.

After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, we saw what can happen when Europe stands united. With a view to the summit tomorrow, let’s hope it continues like this. But it is already starting to crumble and crumble again.”

The most tangible will be the leaders’ political backing for a €9bn package of EU loans, with a small grants component to cover part of the interest, so that Ukraine can keep its government going and pay wages for around two months, according to Reuters.