«Now Ukraine needs a peace plan». The words that came from Berlin a few hours after the “tense” meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump mark Europe’s response: a front that regroups, relaunching the idea of a political horizon alongside military aid. The line was dictated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who went as far as to evoke a program “along the lines” of the twenty-point plan signed by the American president for Gaza. A perspective that also animated the first phone call between Zelensky and the main European leaders – including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and EU leaders, Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa – after the face-to-face meeting in Washington, in an attempt to avoid the risk of a peace imposed from above.
The European partners “welcomed transatlantic cooperation”, underlined Merz also on behalf of the allies, glossing over the news of the two and a half hour meeting between Zelensky and Trump, during which – according to Axios reconstructions – the occupant of the White House expressed in a “harsh” tone a clear refusal to supply the Tomahawks to Kiev. «I think we’re done. Let’s see what happens next week”, cut the tycoon short, alluding to his next conversation with Vladimir Putin in Budapest. In his report to the Europeans, Zelensky glossed over the missiles: “The United States does not want an escalation.” But on NBC he considered it “positive” that the president didn’t say no, but didn’t say yes either.
“Our objective remains to guarantee a just and lasting peace for Ukraine”, the President of the European Council Antonio Costa reiterated on Faced with the aggression of Moscow – which in the last few hours has once again hit Zaporizhzhia with three attacks – European solidarity, also assured Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is “more necessary today than ever”. While dialogue with Putin, in Matteo Salvini’s vision, remains “the path to détente”: Donald Trump’s decision not to supply missiles to Ukraine is “courageous” and “brings peace closer”, observed the deputy prime minister, hoping that “in Paris, Brussels and Berlin the temptation to continue producing, selling and using weapons will not prevail”.
Whatever form the possible peace plan takes, the most sensitive issue will remain at the center of the negotiations: security guarantees for Kiev. Also on this point, the national security advisors of the NATO countries met in the last few hours to coordinate the next moves. In the immediate future, EU leaders are working on the October 23rd summit in Brussels – at which Zelensky is also expected, in a manner to be defined – and on managing a politically delicate step: granting temporary exemptions to the closure of European airspace to Russian flights to allow the arrival in Hungary of Vladimir Putin, who is also subject to an international arrest warrant issued by the ICC.
A decision left to the individual neighboring countries which, according to various sources, are inclined to grant the green light in order to prevent the Budapest summit from taking on the contours of a symbolic Washington-Budapest-Moscow axis. The EU travel ban, Brussels clarified, does not apply personally to the Kremlin leader, but the blockade of airspace for Russian aircraft “formally remains in force”. The sanctions are clear: «No flight operated by public or private Russian companies can land, take off or fly over the skies of the Union». A symbolic measure of the response against the Kremlin, destined to be strengthened again: already on Monday, the Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-Seven meeting in Luxembourg could approve the nineteenth package of sanctions to “increase the pressure” on Moscow. The impasse was broken by Austria, which after weeks of hesitation withdrew its veto linked to the request for compensation for Raiffeisen Bank, hit by Russian counter-sanctions. Slovakia’s last energy reservations remain to be overcome.