Closing summary
US president Donald Trump said he is “strongly considering” imposing banking sanctions, other sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement is reached with Ukraine. In a post on social media, he said: “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”
Kyiv said on Wednesday it was asking Italy for more information about a proposal by prime minister Giorgia Meloni to extend Nato’s mutual defence umbrella to Ukraine without offering it alliance membership or sending peacekeeping troops, Reuters reported. On the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Meloni said extending Nato’s Article 5 collective security agreement would be a more “lasting solution” than sending European peacekeepers or granting Kyiv full membership.
Keir Starmer has hailed the EU’s “historic step forward” as he spoke to leaders after the bloc backed moves to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security. In a phone call with the president of the European Council, the president of the European Commission and the leaders of Canada, Turkey, Norway and Iceland on Friday, the prime minister also welcomed the prospect of talks next week in Saudi Arabia after they were confirmed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, PA reported.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s approval rating has risen by 10 percentage points since his White House spat with US president Donald Trump, a poll by a leading Ukrainian pollster showed on Friday. The poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed that 67% of respondents trusted Zelenskyy in March, up from 57% a month earlier.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said that it was “clear that any hope that Ukraine gets hard security guarantees with physical US presence to back these guarantees seems to be less probable, to put it mildly, than before.” Tusk said that Poland had to respond to the new US administration’s “deep correction” in its defence priorities, even as he stressed that Poland should still continue to seek the closest possible relations with the US.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday threw his support behind a call by French president Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an aerial and sea truce in the Russian aggression on Ukraine. “We support the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible and stopping attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” Erdoğan told an online meeting organised by the EU.
France’s defence minister is to hold talks next week with counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland to discuss support for Ukraine, an adviser to the French government said. AFP reported that the ministers from Europe’s five main military powers will meet in Paris on Wednesday, a day after France hosts a key meeting of European military chiefs of staff.
Romanian far-right populist Calin Georgescu filed his candidacy Friday in a rerun of last year’s presidential election that was annulled by a top court after his surprise first-round win. As the 62-year-old Georgescu arrived at the Central Election Bureau in the capital, Bucharest, hundreds of supporters waved Romanian flags and chanted: “Last resort, another revolution!”
Three Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia have been found guilty of espionage charges in a trial that heard how they were involved in a string of plots around Europe directed by a fugitive based in Moscow. After more than 32 hours of deliberations, a jury at the Old Bailey reached unanimous verdicts on Katrin Ivanova, 33, a lab technician, Vanya Gaberova, 30, a beautician, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, a painter and decorator, all of whom were living in London before their arrest.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Europe live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s approval rating has risen by 10 percentage points since his White House spat with US president Donald Trump, a poll by a leading Ukrainian pollster showed on Friday.
The poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed that 67% of respondents trusted Zelenskyy in March, up from 57% a month earlier.
The survey was conducted from 14 February to 4 March – a challenging time for Zelenskyy as Kyiv’s relations with the United States, its biggest military backer, plunged into crisis after the Oval Office meeting on 28 February.
Anton Hrushetskyi, KIIS’ executive director, said the poll showed Ukrainians were rallying behind Zelenskyy more than three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Ukrainians perceive the rhetoric of the new US administration as an attack on the whole of Ukraine and all Ukrainians,” Hrushetskyi said in a statement.
He said Ukrainians want peace but not a peace that comes at too high a cost.
