Morning opening: Ukraine must be able to ‘choose its destiny,’ EU says
Jakub Krupa
In an early morning statement issued after last night ministerial discussions, the EU insisted “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” as it stressed “the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny.”
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has wider implications for European and international security.
We share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”
But despite the intentions, the statement didn’t demonstrate the EU’s unity on this point: Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, once again, refused to back the collective position.
And just hours after the EU meeting, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó was on the phone to Moscow speaking to Russian deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
But as we get closer to the summit – which Donald Trump described last night as a “feel-out meeting” – many European leaders are likely to be alarmed by the US president’s rhethoric and talk of “swapping” territories without Ukraine even present at the table.
They will be hoping that the last-ditch attempt to convince Trump of the merits of their position during a scheduled phone call on Wednesday will result in the US president changing his views going into the talks. Let’s see.
Elsewhere, we will be keeping an eye on another day of record-breaking heat in parts of Europe. Overnight, Spanish firefighters have finally contained a wildfire near Madrid, which killed one and prompted the evacuation of almost 200 people.
I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Tuesday, 12 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Hungary’s Orbán refuses to back EU statement on Ukraine and Trump-Putin summit, saying bloc should not intervene from sidelines
To give you an idea of just how strongly Hungary feels about the EU’s statement, the country’s prime minister Viktor Orbán took to social media this morning to explain his views.
He said he felt it was necessary to speak before “the liberal-mainstream chorus” – that’s the EU leaders for him – “begins its newest rendition of their favourite ‘Putin’s puppet’ tune” accusing him of taking pro-Russian positions.
But in short: he said that since the EU was not involved, it shouldn’t intervene from the sidelines, and if it wants to talk to Putin, it should call its own EU-Russia summit.
Here is his explanation in full:
“Just four days ahead of the historic summit between President Trump and President Putin, the European Council sought to issue a statement in the name of all EU heads of state and government.
Before the liberal-mainstream chorus begins its newest rendition of their favourite “Putin’s puppet” tune, I decided to share why I could NOT support the statement on behalf of Hungary.
1. The statement attempts to set conditions for a meeting to which leaders of the EU were not invited.
2. The fact that the EU was left on the sidelines is sad enough as it is. The only thing that could make things worse is if we started providing instructions from the bench.
3. The only sensible action for EU leaders is to initiate an EU-Russia summit, based on the example of the US-Russia meeting.
Let’s give peace a chance!”
Morning opening: Ukraine must be able to ‘choose its destiny,’ EU says
Jakub Krupa
In an early morning statement issued after last night ministerial discussions, the EU insisted “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” as it stressed “the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny.”
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has wider implications for European and international security.
We share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”
But despite the intentions, the statement didn’t demonstrate the EU’s unity on this point: Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, once again, refused to back the collective position.
And just hours after the EU meeting, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó was on the phone to Moscow speaking to Russian deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
But as we get closer to the summit – which Donald Trump described last night as a “feel-out meeting” – many European leaders are likely to be alarmed by the US president’s rhethoric and talk of “swapping” territories without Ukraine even present at the table.
They will be hoping that the last-ditch attempt to convince Trump of the merits of their position during a scheduled phone call on Wednesday will result in the US president changing his views going into the talks. Let’s see.
Elsewhere, we will be keeping an eye on another day of record-breaking heat in parts of Europe. Overnight, Spanish firefighters have finally contained a wildfire near Madrid, which killed one and prompted the evacuation of almost 200 people.
I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Tuesday, 12 August 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
