EU leaders agree on defence surge, support Zelenskyy

European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of US policies.

The European Union's defence summit in Brussels took place amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, may attack an EU country next and that Europe can no longer rely on the US to come to its aid.

"Today we have shown that the European Union is rising to the challenge, building the Europe of defence and standing with Ukraine shoulder to shoulder," the chairman of the meeting Antonio Costa told reporters.

EU leaders hailed the European Commission's proposals this week to give them fiscal flexibility on defence spending, and to jointly borrow up to $160 billion (AED 587 billion) to lend to EU governments to spend on their militaries.

In a joint statement agreed by all 27 member states, the leaders called on their ministers to examine these proposals in detail urgently.

"Europe must take up this challenge, this arms race. And it must win it," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a special defence summit in Brussels.

"Europe as a whole is truly capable of winning any military, financial, economic confrontation with Russia - we are simply stronger," Tusk said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Wednesday had told French voters that Russia was a threat to France and Europe, said all this was just a first step.

"Whatever happens in Ukraine, we need to build autonomous defence capacities in Europe," he said after the EU summit.

The EU leaders also voiced support for Ukraine, but that statement was agreed without Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, who is also cultivating ties with Moscow.