Updated

At the European Council summit in Brussels on October 16-17, EU leaders expressed broad support for Ukraine's request for an additional 70 billion euros in financial assistance for 2027 and tasked the European Commission with drafting proposals to close the funding gap. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia and Hungary would refuse to back the loan package, calling it dangerous to link Ukraine aid to the EU budget. President Volodymyr Zelensky told the summit that Putin's real target is the rules-based international order and called for stronger defense funding, air defense, sanctions and EU membership progress, while also saying Europe has frozen Russian assets fully under control despite Moscow's efforts to reclaim them.