US and EU should speak with one voice, Tusk says
Following a summit in London, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has urged the EU and the US to hold a united front, adding that the bloc will not yield to the Kremlin's blackmail and aggression.
"We must do everything we can to make Europe and the United States speak with one voice," Tusk said on Sunday, expressing high hopes for the special EU leaders meeting on Ukraine scheduled for Thursday in Brussels.
The summit in London gathered 18 leaders in Lancaster House, including those from and outside of the EU, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. It took place in the wake of a showdown between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, which put the relationship between Kyiv and Washington into a dangerous uncertainty.
Tusk said there could not be any division between Europe and the US after the Zelensky-Trump meeting, though such narration appeared.
"There were no surprises, and the Polish stance reflected the general mood in the room [...] - Ukraine requires continued support and as strong a position as possible before negotiations with Russia," Tusk said.
"Nobody doubts who the aggressor and the victim are and on whose side Europe stands in this conflict."
Speaking of Europe's military manufacturing and capabilities, Tusk said the summit attendees do not doubt that they have "to take on the weight" of intensified support for Ukraine while it is at war. The leaders, Tusk asserted, were finally voicing their plans to increase GDP defence spending, Poland already being a role model in this area.
"I am happy that more and more states are starting to implement this obvious postulate, aside from words and declarations," Tusk said.
The Prime Minister spoke on Warsaw-Washington relations, saying that Poland works on maintaining as strong as possible ties with the US.
"That is why I unequivocally supported the proposal of (Italian - PAP) Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that Europe and the United States find a way to have a continuous and very honest discussion and exchange of views with each other, to understand each other as best as possible before these decisive events that lie ahead. I am talking about negotiations," Tusk said.
Poland and Ukraine are looking with hope at the Special European Council Meeting on March 6, where the ongoing war will be at the centre of the agenda. "This would be a clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that nobody in the West has the will to capitulate to his blackmail and aggression," the prime minister said. (PAP)
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