Talks between US and Ukrainian officials on potentially ending the war in Ukraine have resumed in Berlin with EU leaders and the NATO Secretary General due to join the discussions this evening.
It comes as EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are continuing to assess a plan to convert hundreds of billions of euro in frozen Russian assets into a long term loan for Ukraine.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has said it is the Government’s preference that Ukraine be funded in the coming years through frozen Russian assets.
Speaking at the start of a pivotal week in efforts to end the Ukraine war, Minister McEntee said: "It is absolutely essential that we send a very strong signal to Ukraine, but in particular to Russia, that we are going to support, and we will use these assets, to support Ukraine in what has been an illegal invasion.
"We need to make sure that that support is strong and that Europe stands square behind Ukraine, and that will be our priority and our focus."
EU leaders will attempt to forge a consensus on the issue when they meet in Brussels for a key summit on Thursday and Friday.
Belgium remains to be convinced of the plan to use up to €210 billion in immobilised Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s military and financial needs for at least two years.
Italy, Malta and Bulgaria have also suggested an alternative - such as joint borrowing by the EU - should be looked at. Hungary and Slovakia remain opposed to using Russian assets, or to providing any further support for Ukraine.
However, Ireland and most other member states believe the use of frozen Russian assets remains the best option.
Ukraine is expected to run out of money by April of next year.
Speaking ahead of the foreign ministers meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU had to take "very important" decisions on funding Ukraine this week, but acknowledged that talks over using frozen Russian assets were getting harder.
"We are not there yet, and it is increasingly difficult, but we're doing the work and we still have some days," she said. "We will not leave the [EU summit] meeting [on Thursday] before we get a result."
Last week, EU member states agreed to invoke emergency powers to sidestep a Hungarian veto, in order to ensure that the Russian assets remain subject to EU sanctions
The issue has taken on heightened significance since US and Russian officials tabled a 28-point peace plan last month, part of which proposed using a slice of Russia’s frozen overseas assets for joint US-Russian investments.
Today's meeting of EU foreign ministers comes against the backdrop of ongoing discussions in Berlin between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The teams, hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will be joined later this evening by French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as other EU leaders
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will also join the meeting.
Yesterday, President Zelensky said Ukraine could consider abandoning its ambitions to join NATO if strong security guarantees from the US, Europe and other allies were put in place to prevent a future Russian invasion.
He has resisted Russia’s demands, tacitly supported by the Trump administration, that Ukraine withdraw from parts of the eastern Donbas region that Russia has been unable to capture militarily.
Ms Kallas warned this morning against Ukraine having to concede such territory as part of any peace agreement.
"We have to understand that if he gets Donbas, then the fortress is down and then they definitely move on with taking the whole of Ukraine," she told reporters.
"If Ukraine goes, then other regions are also in danger," she said.
The status of Donbas, comprising Donetsk and Luhansk regions, has emerged as a key sticking point in the talks.
Ms McEntee told reporters in Brussels: "We are at a critical juncture. It's very welcome to see significant conversations and the engagement that's happening between Ukraine and the US, and in particular today in Germany.
"To further those discussions, it's absolutely vital that an agreement can be reached and that a cease fire can be put in place again, particularly coming into the winter months, [with] the challenging situation that so many citizens in Ukraine find themselves in, it is absolutely essential [with] this illegal invasion by Russia, that a ceasefire can be brought about."
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said that its air defence units had shot down 130 Ukrainian drones overnight, 15 of which were headed for Moscow.
Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said that four more Ukrainian drones en route to the capital had been brought down this morning and that emergency services were on the scene.
Ukrainian forces periodically send drones towards the Russian capital, which often disrupt the work of the capital's airports.
Rosaviatsia, the Russian aviation watchdog, said that Moscow's Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports had been forced to suspend their operations along with a number of other Russian airports in the south of the country.
Additional reporting Reuters
