AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was warmly greeted by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. It's in contrast to the heated meeting Friday with President Donald Trump that left relations with the U.S. in question. Starmer is hosting a group of European leaders to discuss how to provide more support for the country, now three years since it was invaded by Russia. And he now says Britain, France and Ukraine have agreed to work on a ceasefire plan to present to the U.S. We're joined now by Teri Schultz, who's following developments from Brussels. Hi, Teri.
TERI SCHULTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: These weren't exactly the circumstances under which the British prime minister expected to host his European counterparts, were they?
SCHULTZ: Not at all. Now, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called this meeting of about a dozen EU heads of state and government, of course, before the spat in the Oval Office. And they were intending to discuss things like you just mentioned - their collective plan to help achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, how NATO's European countries - together with Turkey and Canada - can do that, what they can offer, possibly even boots on the ground to monitor an eventual ceasefire. That's all been under discussion.
So heading into this meeting, Starmer is sounding optimistic, as you say, that they'll come out of it with an agreement among countries there in London, which would then be presented to President Trump. But there are lots of questions, Ayesha. Even the U.K. and France, which are the lead countries on this plan, have said that they would require this all-important American component of potential air power on standby in case their troops, who would be there in Ukraine, are attacked. And securing that crucial element becomes all the more difficult now that it's potentially an entire cutoff of American support for Ukraine.
RASCOE: Going beyond this U.K.-hosted meeting, I understand there's also a full European Union summit coming up in a few days focused on the same issues. Does this indicate how concerned Europeans are about how things are going with Ukraine? What can we expect from that?
SCHULTZ: That's right. On Thursday, the 27 EU leaders will come to Brussels for a meeting focused entirely on defense. And again, this was scheduled before things went so awry in the Oval Office. And it was already unusual to hold such a high-level meeting on one subject only - defense and security. But that's how worried people already were even before this last deterioration. Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke yesterday on the Finnish national broadcaster, YLE, about how important this moment is for Europe. He started by saying what happened in Washington was astonishing and sad, but then Stubb looked for the silver lining.
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PRESIDENT ALEXANDER STUBB: (Speaking Finnish).
SCHULTZ: "In many ways," he said, "it's Europe's moment, Europe's moment to act. It's in our interest to support Ukraine, and it's in our interest that the alliance relationship with the United States within NATO continues to work."
So, again, like with the meeting in London, I expect the leaders are going to have to spend some time focused on how they can perhaps help repair relations between Washington and Kyiv, something they didn't exactly anticipate. As well as working on a new aid package they're planning for Ukraine, and they very much hope to approve it at this meeting. And that will include ammunition, missiles and billions of euros in financial assistance.
RASCOE: There's also the NATO situation to consider with these new tensions with the U.S. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke out yesterday, saying it's Zelenskyy's responsibility to fix the relationship. Is that just because the U.S. is a member of the alliance and Ukraine isn't? And will that have other implications for NATO?
SCHULTZ: Yeah, Ayesha, it's going to be awkward. And, you know, I think Mark Rutte, in an interview with the BBC, saying that it's up to the Ukrainian president alone to make up with Trump, was really speaking for himself and not the other 31 NATO allies. Because after what happened in Washington, they came out immediately and really strongly telling Zelenskyy to be brave and be fearless and that they would stand behind him. So I don't think that there's going to be any impact on the assistance that these countries give because it doesn't go through NATO. It's really bilateral aid. In fact, we may even see an increase as they feel the situation becoming ever more dire.
RASCOE: That's reporter Teri Schultz in Brussels. Thank you so much for joining us.
SCHULTZ: Good to be here. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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