European defense leaders pledge pressure to end the war after Russian
strike on Kyiv
[August 30, 2025]
By SAM McNEIL
BRUSSELS (AP) — European defense ministers pledged Friday to ramp up
support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, a day after a
Russian air assault on Kyiv killed 23 people and badly damaged a
European diplomatic compound.
Outrage over the attack propelled Europe's leaders to condemn Russia
even before Friday's meeting and call for tougher measures on Moscow
like seizing frozen assets, further sanctions and increasing support for
Ukraine’s military and membership in the European Union.
“Everybody understands that, considering how (Russian President
Vladimir) Putin is mocking the peace efforts, the only thing that works
is pressure,” said Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief for the European
Union.
They also discussed European troops' deployment in Ukraine to guarantee
security and monitor a peace that seems distant as American efforts to
broker peace between Ukraine and Russia appear stalled.
Kyiv’s European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop
any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European
nations, Japan and Australia, has signed up to support the initiative.
Kallas said that in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine, the U.S.
is demanding that Europe carry “the lion’s share” of the burden.
Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The
role that the U.S. might play is unclear. Trump has ruled out sending
U.S. troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia.
On Thursday, two missiles landed about 50 meters from an EU diplomatic
mission in Kyiv, shattering the office's windows and doors but causing
no injuries there. The EU summoned Russia's envoy in Brussels, Karen
Malayan, and told her that damages to the mission “are serious and
constitute a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations,” said Anitta Hipper, an EU foreign policy spokersperson.
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 that Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not
surprised.”
Leavitt noted that Ukraine has also 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.”
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Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian
attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem
Lukatsky)
In Copenhagen, Kallas said defense ministers from across the
27-nation bloc discussed increasing sanctions on Russia, ramping up
defense supplies to Ukraine’s army and European contribution to
postwar security guarantees, which could include EU training
missions into Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place.
At a news conference following the meeting, Kallas said that the
ministers had discussed ways to work around Hungary’s refusal to
back Ukraine. She said the EU has 6.6 billion euros blocked by
Hungary's veto that could potentially be sent to Ukraine via NATO’s
new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List approved by Trump.
On Thursday, the United States approved a $825 million arms sale to
Ukraine that will include extended-range missiles and related
equipment to boost its defensive capabilities.
Lithuania’s Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said the attack on
Kyiv on Thursday shows that hope now for peace is “naive” and that
“all Putin is doing is really stalling, actually cheaply buying time
to kill more people and to imitate sort of willingness to maybe stop
his own murderous actions.”
She said Europe must deal with Russia more forcefully, like seizing
frozen Russian assets.
“That is actually one power that we are not using enough yet,” she
said. “Over 200 billion of Russian assets would be extremely helpful
in both pumping this money in Ukrainian defense industry and buying
American weapons.”
Simon Harris, Ireland’s defense minister, said more must be done to
force Russia to end the war.
“It’s imperative that those of us in the European Union now consider
further sanctions, what more measures can be taken to increase the
pressure on Russia to end this brutal and aggressive war on Ukraine
and the huge impact that that’s having on civilians,” he said.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen began a tour of
EU nations bordering Russia or Belarus on Friday, including visits
to arms factories and border installations. She met Friday with
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina and toured a drone manufacturer.
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