Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Europe's leaders for standing by Kyiv on Friday, even as his strained relationship with US President Donald Trump overshadowed an EU summit in Brussels.
"I'm so thankful that we have such huge support from EU Council Commission and leaders, real leaders," Zelenskyy said, emphasising Europe's backing since the beginning of the war.
The remarks came after SpaceX's Starlink service was restricted in Ukraine earlier this week, slowing the connectivity Ukraine relies on to defend against Russian attacks. Ukrainian First Deputy Minister for Recovery, Infrastructure and Transport Serhiy Derkach said the restriction had encouraged Russia to intensify strikes on civilian infrastructure.
"With U.S. limiting the use of Starlinks on the battlefield, Russia feels that this is their moment to try and inflict even more pain and suffering on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure," he said. "We are definitely moving towards very harsh weeks and months and need our partners' support now more than ever."
Zelenskyy told reporters in Brussels that he saw no signal from Russia that it was ready to end the war. He also lamented on Wednesday that Moscow was not respecting the "energy ceasefire" announced by Trump last week. Trump said both countries had agreed to stop attacking each other's power infrastructure, a move reported to be aimed at easing oil and diesel prices ahead of the US midterm elections in November. Zelenskyy later welcomed the proposal.
The rift is worrying European officials. Three officials familiar with the summit preparations told the Financial Times that they planned to privately urge Zelenskyy to tone down his public criticism of Trump. Politico quoted one EU diplomat as saying Zelenskyy's criticism of the president was "not helpful."