WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
An extraordinary summit of European Union leaders to discuss strengthening defense capabilities and providing assistance to Ukraine began today in Brussels, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending the meeting.
Although the summit will offer words of support and plan to increase defense spending, Europe is not expected to be able to fully compensate for the suspension of US aid. According to NATO, Washington provided more than 40% of military aid to Ukraine last year, a part of which Europe could not easily provide.
The meeting is taking place in the context of drastic decisions on defense policy, driven by fears that Russia, emboldened by the war in Ukraine, could attack an EU country and that Europe can no longer rely on the US to come to its rescue.
“I want to believe that the United States will be with us. But we must be prepared if that is not the case,” French President Emmanuel Macron said of the war in Ukraine in a speech to the nation ahead of the summit.
In a sign of the seriousness of the moment, Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection provided by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners. He stressed that Russia had become a threat to the whole of Europe.
“Faced with such a world of dangers, being an observer would be madness,” Macron said.
The EU leaders’ summit, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, began at 1:20 p.m. behind closed doors, with the first official statements expected immediately after the meeting.
