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Can the EU step up where the US is stepping back · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Brussels on a mission
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to boost support for his country in its war against Russia.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: European Union leaders are gathering for a summit in a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: week that has seen U.S. President Trump take action that
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: many see directed against Ukraine. Trump has given the green
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: light to buy Russian diesel, a move that Europeans see
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: as undermining economic sanctions against Moscow. Trump has also called
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: for Zelensky to be replaced as president. All of this,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and there is still no let-up in Russian attacks on Ukraine.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: DW's Jack Perik reports.
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  Speaker 2: This is not an easy meeting for leaders of the
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: European Union.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: U.S.
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  Speaker 2: President Trump's decision to allow purchases of diesel from Russia
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  Speaker 2: is ringing alarm bells here. This morning, in smaller meetings,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I pleaded that we do everything to help the Ukrainians
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: through the winter and also into next year. There's also
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: support for Ukraine to continue targeting Russian oil refineries with
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: its counterattacks, despite White House pressure to stop.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: The faster all the Russian refineries and ability to sell
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  Speaker 3: energy will be blown to smithereens, the better, because Russia
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  Speaker 3: is funding the war with that, with shadow fleet and
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: with the refiners.
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  Speaker 2: Long before the U.S. decided to buy Russian diesel again,
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  Speaker 2: Kiev had warned of major shortfalls in its financial ability
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  Speaker 2: to fight the war. Discussions in Europe have erupted about
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: how to restructure current funding.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: It is one beer less for one European a year.
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  Speaker 4: We can afford that. But Ukraine needs it now. That
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  Speaker 4: one beer is just a cost. There, it's a cost
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: of life. And we drink less, their lives are saved.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: In addition to attempting to resolve major rifts between countries
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: over the EU's own budget, EU leaders here will also
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: consider a major step up in sanctions against Russia, including
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a complete ban on all Russian citizens getting a visa
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: to enter the EU, but with the urgent priority being
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: on preventing Russian soldiers who fought against Ukraine from coming in.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also brief his counterparts on
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Russia's intensified missile attacks against the Ukrainian population.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: All right, let's bring in our Brussels correspondent, Terry Schultz.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: She's on the story for us tonight. Terry, Zelensky, he
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: comes to Brussels at a difficult time, intensified Russian attacks,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: mixed messages from Washington. What is Zelensky's key message now
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to EU leaders?
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  Speaker 5: Well, the main thing that President Zelensky needs to do, Brent,
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  Speaker 5: is to achieve unity among the EU. These 27 governments
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: are often voting on things, approving things by unanimity. So
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: if one of them holds out, he doesn't get what
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: he needs. And that is, of course, more money, more
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: sanctions on Russia, more sanctions on the shadow fleet, faster
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: accession to the European Union. A lot of these decisions
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: have to be taken with no country vetoing it. So
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: he very much is making the rounds, talking to everybody,
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: trying to keep the EU leaders on the same page.
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: And that's really important, as you mentioned earlier, about when.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: White House is putting more pressure on Ukraine when President
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: Trump has threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine
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  Speaker 5: if it continues to target oil refineries. President Zelensky needs
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: the EU to say, we're behind you and we're going
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: to help you replace your own energy infrastructure that's being
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: destroyed and we're actually in favor of you continuing to
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: bomb Russian oil refineries.
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: You heard that from the Estonian leader there.
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  Speaker 5: Those are the kind of messages he needs to hear
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  Speaker 5: and so He's reminding them that if Ukraine fails, the
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  Speaker 5: next target that President Putin may have is.
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  Speaker 3: One of them.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I want to pick up on that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: We heard the Estonian prime minister essentially encouraging Ukraine to
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: keep attacking Russian oil infrastructure. How willing are EU leaders
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: right now to risk what could be a confrontation with
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the United States over this?
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  Speaker 6: Well, I think we'll be hearing more about that. We
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: don't know.
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  Speaker 5: It's a flashpoint now over the last couple of days.
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  Speaker 5: And I think Estonia's prime minister was very forward in
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: saying this because... It is a message that could put
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: these countries in conflict with the White House. Now, we
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: should point out that the Trump administration has said it
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: did not actually give an order to cut off intelligence sharing,
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  Speaker 5: even though no such advance warning came for two nights.
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  Speaker 5: They said that was a glitch and that that order
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: is not. being implemented, but it's left a lot of
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: people skeptical and reminded everyone that this is something that
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: the White House would.
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  Speaker 6: Be willing to do.
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  Speaker 5: So when EU leaders say that they'll have Zelensky's back
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  Speaker 5: for him to continue doing that, again, because it also
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: serves EU purposes, keeping them safer, that's really important for
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: him to hear.
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  Speaker 6: But it is a risk that these leaders are taking
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  Speaker 6: if they do that.
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  Speaker 1: We know that the EU wants to keep supporting Ukraine.
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  Speaker 1: They have to, of to do so. And these are
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  Speaker 1: not minor expenditures. And I'm going to say, despite what
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  Speaker 1: the Latvian prime minister said when he compared it to
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: basically going without one beer.
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  Speaker 6: That's right.
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  Speaker 5: And it is telling that, you know, these are the
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  Speaker 5: Estonian and Latvian prime ministers.
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  Speaker 6: Those are frontline countries.
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  Speaker 5: They very much feel that Ukraine's fight is their fight,
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  Speaker 5: that if Ukraine loses, they'll be next. So it's not
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  Speaker 5: surprising that they're the ones putting out the strongest messages. Now,
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  Speaker 5: the EU is discussing at this meeting ways to keep
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  Speaker 5: funding Ukraine. They, you know, release billions to the Ukrainian
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: government from the various mechanisms that have been set up.
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  Speaker 5: And an interesting story has popped up again on the
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  Speaker 5: margins here. It's not really going to be on the
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: table of the leaders at this summit, but that is
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: this issue of frozen Russian assets. You'll remember us talking
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: about that many times.
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  Speaker 6: Apparently, the U.S.
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  Speaker 5: Has floated an idea that some of the frozen assets,
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: the billions of euros frozen in the European Union, should
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: be transferred to the U.S. and be used in supposed
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: leverage for peace talks. Chancellor Merz said that that is
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: a no-go. He said those funds are frozen in Europe
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: and they're staying in Europe. So that's not something the
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  Speaker 5: Europeans appear to be going for. At the same time,
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  Speaker 5: they also haven't agreed how to use that money themselves.
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: To help Ukraine.
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  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about NATO Chief Mark Rutte. Zelensky
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: has met with him. We know that Rutte gets along
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: well with President Trump. What's the possibility here of Rutte
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: being able to use those good relations to help improve
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: ties between Ukraine's president and the U.S. president?
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: I think that's certainly something everyone would hope for, but
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  Speaker 5: it's not necessarily something that Rute will consider his first job.
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  Speaker 5: As we've seen over these many months, what he considers
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: the most important part of his position is keeping Donald
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: Trump happy with NATO. So to the extent that he
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: can convince Trump that continuing to help Ukraine is good
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: for the United States, you know, that might work. And
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: I think that certainly Mark Rutte doesn't want Ukraine to fail.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: That's going to make things much more difficult for NATO.
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  Speaker 5: But I think he will very much have to portray
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  Speaker 5: it in.
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  Speaker 6: Terms of U.S.
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  Speaker 4: Interests.
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  Speaker 6: It would be better for the U.S. if Ukraine doesn't lose.
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  Speaker 6: It would be better for the U.S.
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  Speaker 5: If NATO allies feel secure that, you know, Ukraine is
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: going to continue getting U.S.
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  Speaker 6: Support.
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  Speaker 5: So I haven't heard how those discussions went with President
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Zelensky or when he might be speaking with President Trump again.
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  Speaker 5: But that's my guess as a longtime NATO watcher.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Mark Rutte, the Trump whisperer, as they say. Terry,
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  Speaker 1: as always, good to have you reporting. Thank you.