Diplomacy EU leaders meet in race to save bloc's financing plan for Ukraine

Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will meet the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, for emergency talks today as the EU races to save its financing plan for Ukraine.

- Jon Henley Europe correspondent

The three leaders would dine in private in Brussels, a German government spokesman said yesterday, as Belgian officials continued to express strong opposition to the scheme, which involves the unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets. With Russia’s attacks intensifying, Washington pushing for a peace deal that favours Moscow, Kyiv fast running out of money and Europe struggling for influence at US-led talks, the bloc must find a solution - or suffer a major blow to its credibility.

Two weeks before a crucial 18 December EU summit, von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed two main options for the EU to raise the tens of billions of euros Ukraine needs to keep funding its struggling military and basic services.

The EU has pledged to keep Ukraine afloat next year. It aims to raise €90bn (£79bn) to meet about two-thirds of Kyiv’s needs for 2026 and 2027, von der Leyen said, giving Ukraine the means to negotiate a peace deal “from a position of strength”.