Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday praised Europe’s “true leaders” for supporting Kyiv on Friday, as tensions with US President Donald Trump clouded a summit aimed at securing more aid for Ukraine.
“We are very grateful that we have received great support from the European Council Committee and the leaders, the real leaders,” President Zelenskiy said, underscoring Europe’s support since the beginning of the war.
The remarks came amid rising tensions between the United States and Ukraine. space x Starlink services were restricted in Ukraine earlier this week, slowing connections that Ukraine relies on to protect itself from Russian attacks.
“With the United States restricting the use of Starlink on the battlefield, Russia feels now is the time to inflict more pain and suffering on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure,” Serhiy Derkach, Ukraine’s first deputy minister for reconstruction, infrastructure and transportation, told CNBC on Friday.
“We are undoubtedly heading into a very tough few weeks and months, and now more than ever we need the support of our partners,” he added.
Zelensky is also reportedly under increasing pressure to soften public criticism of Trump.
Three officials familiar with the preparations for the EU summit told the Financial Times that they plan to privately urge Mr Zelensky to soften his rhetoric when he meets him in Brussels on Friday.
According to Politico, some EU leaders are also concerned about Zelensky’s response to strained relations with President Trump, with one EU diplomat saying that Zelensky’s public criticism of the president was “unhelpful.”
“We want to end this war as soon as possible. We have not seen any signals so far from the Russian side that they are ready to end this war,” President Zelenskyy told reporters in Brussels on Friday, after lamenting on Wednesday that Russia was not respecting the “energy ceasefire” announced by President Trump.
President Trump surprised Russian and Ukrainian officials last week by announcing that the two countries had agreed to halt attacks on each other’s power infrastructure, aimed at easing oil and diesel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November.
President Zelensky later welcomed the proposal, saying that Ukraine postponed attacks on Russian energy targets for three days to comply with Washington’s wishes, but that an agreement with Russia on diesel supplies to the world market was “weak”.
Russia did not confirm that it had agreed to an energy ceasefire, saying only that negotiations were “ongoing.” Russian authorities did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNBC.
—CNBC’s George Bextor contributed to this report
