Zelenskyy Outlines Key Points from Meeting with EU President Ursula von der Leyen

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summarized the meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on September 20.

"First – security support. It is critically important to fully utilize the funds from the European Peace Facility and the Ukraine Assistance Fund for sustained and predictable support for our defense forces. The direction of these funds to Ukraine, without any blockage, directly impacts our ability to protect lives and our positions on the front lines,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“Second – energy. I want to especially thank you for announcing additional energy support from the EU for Ukraine amounting to about €160 million. This funding is specifically for winter preparations, with €100 million coming from frozen Russian assets. We also discussed enhanced protection for some critical energy facilities and the financing of this protection.”

The third point is the complete utilization of Russian assets. “It is simply fair that the funds found and frozen in various jurisdictions start working for protection against Russian aggression,” Ukrainian President said.

“Fourth – our accession negotiations, which have already begun this year. And fifth, which I want to emphasize separately, is the pressure of sanctions on Russia. We cannot allow the aggressor to adapt to our pressure. This means we must not only limit any schemes to circumvent sanctions but also introduce new ones. The upcoming 15th package of sanctions against Russia should continue our overall European policy – everything that prevents Russian aggression from expanding," Zelenskyy concluded.