Latest news on Ukraine: Zelensky invited to visit EU next year to discuss more support for war effort

The chairman of the European Union’s 27 leaders Charles Michel and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will hold a summit with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on 3 February next year, an EU spokesman said on Thursday.

The location of the summit has not been determined yet.

“I can confirm the EU-Ukraine summit will take place on 3 February and there is an open invitation to President Zelensky to visit Brussels,” said Barend Leyts, spokesman for the chairman of EU leaders.

He said the invitation for Zelensky to visit Brussels did not mean that’s where the summit would be held.

Officials said the theme of the summit was likely to be how the EU can continue to support Ukraine against Russia. The leaders of the EU’s two key institutions – the Commission and the council of EU leaders – would also assess Ukraine’s path to membership in the bloc.

Zelensky has made regular appearances via video-link at EU summits since the start of the Russian invasion in February. He made his first in-person trip since the start of the war to Washington on Wednesday.

Russia said on Thursday that US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington, would not contribute to settling the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the Patriot shipment: “This is not conducive to a speedy settlement, quite the contrary. And this cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals during the special military operation”, using Russia’s term for the war.

Peskov said that there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskiy’s visit on Wednesday, proving that the United States was fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian”.

Congress is considering a $1.7 trillion government funding, with supporters pointing to a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week as another reason to advance the measure in a show of support for the beleaguered nation.

The measure includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, above even President Joe Biden’s emergency request, and ensures that funding flows to the war effort for months to come. The measure would also boost U.S. defense spending by about 10% to $858 billion, addressing concerns from some lawmakers that more investment in the nation’s military is needed to ensure America’s security.

Both houses will need to pass the measure before midnight Friday to avoid a partial-government shutdown.

The European Union’s 27 heads of state and government and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold a summit in February next year, but the location has not been determined.

“I can confirm the EU-Ukraine summit will take place on 3 February and there is an open invitation to President Zelenskiy to visit Brussels,” said Barend Leyts, spokesman for the chairman of EU leaders.

The spokesman said the invitation for President Zelensky to visit Brussels did not mean that’s where the summit would be held.

Officials said the theme of the summit was likely to be how the EU can continue to support Ukraine against Russia. Leaders would also assess Ukraine’s path to membership in the bloc.

President Zelensky has made regular appearances via video-link at EU summits since the start of the Russian invasion in February. He made his first in-person trip since the start of the war to Washington on Wednesday.

The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe explores the question in his latest Voices column.

As the months have gone on, so too has the US’s involvement in the conflict had become deeper and more intertwined.

Initially, the US was content to call on Putin to withdraw his forces. Soon, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was calling for Russia to be “weakened” as a nation, and made unable to launch such an operation again. Earlier this month, the US gave in to demands from Kyiv and dispatched its highest capability defence system, the Patriot missile.

If there was any lingering doubt what is happening in Ukraine is now a full-on proxy war for the US, it was dispatched by the visit to Washington DC this week of Zelensky, his first visit outside of the country since the invasion began.

Talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi about a safe zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – which is held by Russia – would continue, Moscow’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom has said.

The firm said that the two sides’ positions were “close” to each other.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was asked by a reported from his own country about what a “just peace” with Russia would look like, and the wartime leader offered a philosophical answer.

Speaking alongside President Joe Biden in his first appearance with a world leader outside of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, Mr Zelensky pontificated on what that phrase meant and whether reaching such a peaceful end to the war was even possible in its current state.

He firstly described his own definition of such a resolution: “[N]o compromise as to the sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity of my country”, as well as reparations for the damages inflicted by Russian forces during their invasion. Presumably, this would mean the end of Russian occupation in breakaway regions annexed by Moscow after the conflict began in 2014.

But Mr Zelensky went on to say that for many parents of those killed by Russian forces in the brutal war, a “just peace” would mean seeking vengeance for the deaths of their loved ones.

John Bowden has the details.

The presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Wednesday puts a dramatic exclamation point on the Biden administration’s latest announcement of military aid to the war-torn nation.

In ways big and small, the massive $1.85 billion package will expand the abilities of Zelenskyy’s troops to take out incoming Russian airstrikes and continue counter-offensives to push back against the invading troops. It also allows President Joe Biden to deliver his commitment to one of Zelenskyy’s most urgent battlefield requests — a Patriot missile battery.

And there’s more aid to come. Beyond the assistance announced Wednesday, Congress is poised to approve an additional $45 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. The money is part of a massive government funding bill that would support Ukraine not only next year, but in some cases into 2025, assuring continued assistance even as the House changes hands to Republican control.

Lolita Baldor and Tara Copp have the story.

Volodymyr Zelensky has told the US Congress that aid to Ukraine is an investment in democracy, not charity – as he sought to soften Republican concerns over the size of funding handed to Ukraine since the war began, before they assume control of the House of Representatives in a fortnight.

“Your money is not charity. It is an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way,” the Ukrainian president told a joint session of the House and Senate.

The world was too interconnected to allow any country to stand aside and feel safe, he added.

It is likely that Belarus has recently begun “discreetly” training thousands of newly mobilised Russian reservists, with Moscow’s reliance upon forces it typically deems inferior to its own a sign of “overstretch” in Ukraine, the UK has claimed.

“The likely use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties,” said the British Ministry of Defence, in an “intelligence update” in the wake of Mr Putin’s visit to Minsk on Monday.

“Although Russia and Belarus have an extensive background of military co-operation, the training of mobilised Russian personnel by Belarusians represents a role reversal.

“Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system.”