Belgian PM to call Zelensky on Friday as EU reaffirms support for Ukraine
Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever will call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. He will assure Zelensky that Europe will only support a peace with Russia that is accepted by Ukraine, he told the Chamber of Representatives on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, De Wever consulted with a number of European colleagues via video call to formulate a response to US-Russian plans for peace negotiations in Ukraine. While the prime minister could not go into detail, he did stress that all countries agreed to keep up support for Ukraine and that a peace deal without Kyiv or Europe at the table will never be acceptable.
"You cannot ask Europeans to defend a peace treaty they had no say in," he told the Chamber on Thursday. "The free democratic West has only one option and that is to help Ukraine to a peace that it accepts. I will say the same when I can talk to Zelensky tomorrow."
"You cannot ask Europeans to defend a peace treaty they had no say in"
Potential opportunity
De Wever also stressed that Ukraine was the victim in the conflict and Russia the aggressor. Earlier this week, US president Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine had started the war itself and called Zelensky a dictator.
De Wever believes Trump's comments could be an opportunity for Europe. "The decisions that would otherwise take a long time in Europe could now be taken very quickly," De Wever said.
But he remains convinced that the United States should remain an ally. "They are obvious allies. We have to remain transatlantic at heart and look beyond the Trump administration," De Wever added.
EU backs Zelensky
European officials agree with De Wever. "Zelensky was legitimately elected in free, fair and democratic elections. Ukraine is a democracy, Putin's Russia is not," a European Commission spokesman said on Thursday.
European Council president Antonio Costa also reaffirmed his support for Zelensky on Thursday and said he will travel to Kyiv next week, along with European Commission officials, for the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.
© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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