The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned against the “unilateral carving out of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe struggles to exert influence over the US effort to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to European lawmakers in Strasbourg on Wednesday, von der Leyen said Russia “showed no sign of a true desire to end the conflict” and continued to operate in a mindset unchanged from the days of Yalta — the much criticized and misunderstood 1945 summit to decide the post-war order.
“So we need to be clear that there cannot be a unilateral formation of a sovereign European nation, and borders cannot be changed by force. If we legalize and formalize the weakening of borders today, we open the door to more wars tomorrow, and we cannot let that happen.”
He welcomed Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve peace, calling them a “starting point”, but clarified that Europe had many concerns about the details outlined in the original 28-point US-Russian plan. Ukraine has said some extreme Russia-friendly demands have been dropped, and the US President has walked back his Thursday deadline tied to the US holiday of Thanksgiving, amid little sign of progress on key issues.
Describing the situation as volatile and dangerous, von der Leyen also said she saw “an opportunity to make real progress here”, while adding that “so far we have not seen any sign of true willingness on the part of Russia to end this conflict. So we have to keep up the pressure on Russia.”
EU foreign ministers were holding a hastily arranged video conference on the situation on Wednesday.
As well as opposing changing borders by force, von der Leyen said there should be no limits on Ukraine’s armed forces – such restrictions would “make the country vulnerable to future attacks”. He said Ukraine also needed “strong, credible and long-term security guarantees”.
She was speaking after recordings leaked to Bloomberg showed Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff telling a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia to gain control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange. The original 28-point plan called for Ukraine to cede the entire Donetsk region to Russia, including areas under Ukrainian control.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday it was too early to talk about reaching a peace deal on Ukraine in the near future, Reuters reported.
Von der Leyen also promised that the European Commission would present a draft legal proposal on using Russia’s frozen assets to finance Ukraine in 2026 and 2027. EU leaders failed to support the idea last month because of legal skepticism from Belgium, which holds about €183bn of assets, the majority of Russia’s sovereign wealth in the EU and two-thirds of the total worldwide.
Trump’s proposal to take 50% leverage on a US-led venture to “reconstruct and invest in Ukraine” based on $100 billion of Russian frozen assets is increasing pressure on European leaders to resolve the issue. The US also wants Europe to contribute $100 billion to the Reconstruction Investment Fund.
Von der Leyen reiterated her support for the frozen assets plan – EU loans to Ukraine secured on assets and the idea that Russia would pay reparations to Kiev – saying: “I can’t see any scenario in which European taxpayers would foot the bill alone.”
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EU leaders will discuss the question of frozen assets next month as they look to finalize a 2026-27 funding deal for Kiev, with the money expected to run out next spring.
Von der Leyen said another European priority was the return of Ukrainian children forcibly sent to Russia. Von der Leyen, who is due to host an international conference on the issue in 2026, said: “There are thousands of boys and girls whose fate is unknown, trapped by Russia in captivity. We will not forget them.”
The government of Ukraine has identified approximately 20,000 children who have been illegally deported or forcibly transferred to Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Bring Kids Back, a Ukrainian organization working on the issue, has said that 1,835 children have returned from deportation, forced transfer and occupation to Ukraine.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in connection with the kidnapping. The original 28-point plan proposed a full amnesty for the actions of all parties involved in the conflict.
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