European defense ministers met in Copenhagen to discuss the war in Ukraine, a day after a Russian airstrike on Kyiv killed 23 people and heavily damaged a European diplomatic compound.
Outrage over the attack had already prompted European military leaders to condemn Russia and push for stronger measures, including seizing frozen assets, expanding sanctions and boosting support for Ukraine’s military and EU membership.
Ministers were also expected to discuss deploying European troops to Ukraine to ensure security and monitor a peace that remains elusive as U.S. efforts to broker talks stall.
“Everybody understands that, considering how Russian President Vladimir Putin is mocking the peace efforts, the only thing that works is pressure,” said Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief.
Two missiles landed roughly 50 meters from an EU diplomatic mission in Kyiv, shattering windows and doors but causing no injuries. The EU summoned the Russian envoy in Brussels over the attack.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on airstrikes against Ukraine on Friday afternoon at the request of Ukraine and five European Council members – Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece.
Two of Ukraine’s top envoys were set to meet Friday with the Trump administration regarding mediation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Thursday’s attack on Kyiv.
She said Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised.”
Leavitt noted that Ukraine has launched effective assaults on Russia’s oil industry in recent weeks.
“Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” Leavitt said. “The president wants it to end, but the leaders of these two countries must want it to end as well.”
In Copenhagen, Kallas said defense ministers from across the 27-nation bloc would discuss increasing sanctions on Russia, ramping up defense supplies to Ukraine’s army and Europe’s contribution to postwar security guarantees, which could include EU training missions in Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place.
“We are discussing today how to change the mandate of those missions in order to be ready after any peace agreement is put in place,” Kallas said, calling for harsher sanctions targeting Russia’s economic lifelines.
On Thursday, the United States approved an $825 million arms sale to Ukraine that will include extended-range missiles and related equipment to boost its defensive capabilities.
Lithuania’s defense minister, Dovile Sakaliene, said Thursday’s attack on Kyiv shows that hope for peace is “naive” and that “all Putin is doing is stalling, cheaply buying time to kill more people and to imitate willingness to maybe stop his own murderous actions.”
She said Europe must deal with Russia more forcefully, including seizing frozen Russian assets.
“That is one power we are not using enough yet,” she said. “Over $200 billion of Russian assets would be extremely helpful in both pumping money into Ukraine’s defense industry and buying American weapons.”
Simon Harris, Ireland’s defense minister, said more must be done to pressure Russia to end the war.
“It’s imperative that those of us in the European Union now consider further sanctions and other measures to increase the pressure on Russia to end this brutal and aggressive war on Ukraine and the huge impact it’s having on civilians,” he said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen begins Friday a tour of EU nations bordering Russia or Belarus, including visits to arms factories and border installations. She will start in Latvia.
