BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 European defense ministers pledged Friday to ramp up support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, a day after a Russian air assault on Kyiv killed 23 people and badly damaged a European diplomatic compound.<\/p>\n
Outrage over the attack propelled Europe\u2019s leaders to condemn Russia even before Friday\u2019s meeting and call for tougher measures on Moscow like seizing frozen assets, further sanctions and increasing support for Ukraine\u2019s military and membership in the European Union. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody understands that, considering how (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is mocking the peace efforts, the only thing that works is pressure,\u201d said Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief for the European Union. <\/p>\n
They also discussed European troops\u2019 deployment in Ukraine to guarantee security and monitor a peace that seems distant as American efforts to broker peace<\/a> between Ukraine and Russia appear stalled<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kyiv\u2019s European allies are looking to set up a force<\/a> that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries<\/a>, including European nations, Japan and Australia, has signed up to support the initiative. Kallas said that in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine<\/a>, the U.S. is demanding that Europe carry \u201cthe lion\u2019s share\u201d of the burden.<\/p>\n Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the U.S. might play is unclear. Trump has ruled out<\/a> sending U.S. troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia.<\/p>\n On Thursday, two missiles landed about 50 meters from an EU diplomatic mission in Kyiv, shattering the office\u2019s windows and doors but causing no injuries there. The EU summoned Russia\u2019s envoy in Brussels, Karen Malayan, and told her that damages to the mission \u201care serious and constitute a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,\u201d said Anitta Hipper, an EU foreign policy spokersperson.<\/p>\n The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on airstrikes against Ukraine on Friday afternoon at the request of Ukraine and five European council members \u2014 Britain, France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece. Two of Ukraine\u2019s top envoys were set to meet Friday with the Trump administration regarding mediation.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Thursday\u2019s attack on Kyiv.<\/p>\n She said that Trump \u201cwas not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised.\u201d <\/p>\n Leavitt noted that Ukraine has also launched effective assaults on Russia\u2019s oil industry in recent weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cThe president wants it to end, but the leaders of these two countries \u2026 must want it to end as well.\u201d<\/p>\n In Copenhagen, Kallas said defense ministers from across the 27-nation bloc discussed increasing sanctions on Russia, ramping up defense supplies to Ukraine\u2019s army and European contribution to postwar security guarantees, which could include EU training missions into Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place.<\/p>\n At a news conference following the meeting, Kallas said that the ministers had discussed ways to work around Hungary\u2019s refusal to back Ukraine<\/a>. She said the EU has 6.6 billion euros blocked by Hungary\u2019s veto that could potentially be sent to Ukraine via NATO\u2019s new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List approved by Trump.<\/p>\n