PAGUE (Reuters) After the stop of U.S. military aid to Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Tuesday Europe must involve the United States in security discussions and help find a way to bring it closer to Ukraine.



Europe also has to pay attention to European security with its own resources and on being ready to replace U.S. support for Ukraine, he remarked.

From about 2% in 2024, the Czech government has already begun debating ideas to raise defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product in the upcoming years.

Since last year, it has also resulted in an ammunition drive for Ukraine whereby supplies from all around the world support Kyiv's struggle against a Russian invasion. Lipavsky said the project was looking for more money from donor nations while it had guaranteed supplies for the next months.

Europe has been left to scramble on security concerns since last Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House - for being insufficiently appreciative of U.S. backing and their attempts to halt the war.

Driven by Russia's war in Ukraine and concerns Europe cannot be sure of U.S. protection, the European Commission suggested borrowing up to 150 billion euros ($157.76 billion) Tuesday to lend to European Union countries under a rearmaments plan.

Later on Tuesday, Lipavsky hailed the package in an interview; he said it would be a suitable foundation for a summit of EU leaders on Thursday addressing security and Ukraine.

We also have to keep interacting with the United States on European security and figure out perhaps how to pull Ukraine and the US closer together," Lipavsky remarked.


"We should not definitely give up on the United States. However, this is the fact; so, we must act within our capacity."

He noted during the EU meeting that he expected to find unambiguous stances from every 27 member state, which will direct future security policy development.

Having been at conflict with the EU on backing for Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already advised the bloc to begin direct talks with Russia on a ceasefire and scrap plans for a unified declaration at the summit.

Another leader who has advocated for quick peace negotiations and opposed help sustaining the war going, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, has branded the bloc's "peace through force" plan for Ukraine impossible.

Without Kyiv or the EU at the table, the United States under Trump has begun negotiations with Russia on a war ending.

Lipavsky said past cease-fires between Kyiv and Moscow did not work; Ukraine needed to be at the table and a fair and long-lasting peace was needed.

"The core interest of the Czech Republic and, hopefully most European countries is to make sure that we will stop Russian imperialism, that we will protect the principles that borders are not changed by brute force," he remarked.