Meeting on Ukraine's 35th Independence Day, the so-called Coalition of the Willing has promised to step up military support for Kyiv, in the face of sharply increasing attacks and despite "threats from Russia". The most urgent task, the heads of state and government said on Monday, was "to strengthen Ukraine's air defences, to improve cooperation with its defence industry and to share relevant technologies, including through the coalition against ballistic missiles".
Of the 30 participants, some travelled to Kyiv for the meeting while others joined by video link. The talks were co-chaired by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), French President Emmanuel Macron and the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The statement issued by the co-chairs said that sanctions against Russia's military-industrial complex, and against those who support it, should be tightened. Sanctions, wide-ranging economic measures and a rigorous crackdown on sanctions evasion and on the Russian shadow fleet should further limit Russia's war chest, it said. The coalition would work closely with the United States "to ensure that Russia runs out of the means to continue its illegal war".
With Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure continuing and winter approaching, the leaders also agreed to provide emergency assistance to the Ukrainian energy sector, including through the "Ukraine Energy Support Fund" and the supply of specialist equipment. Ahead of the conference, the EU released a further €6.1 billion from its €90 billion loan facility for Ukraine. The money is earmarked for air defence systems, guided missiles, ammunition and radar systems, the European Commission said.
Russia has been attacking Ukraine with drones and missiles almost daily since the start of its war of aggression in February 2022. According to UN figures, last month was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since May 2022. On Monday, Ukrainian emergency services reported 15 people injured in a Russian drone attack on Chernihiv, north of the capital. In an attack on Izium in the east, one person was killed, according to the authorities.
British Prime Minister Burnham chose Kyiv for his first foreign trip. Merz and Macron took part by video. Alongside Burnham, the leaders of Luxembourg, Moldova and Estonia, as well as European Council President António Costa, also travelled to Kyiv.
Speaking in Kyiv, Burnham said the "clear message" to Russian President Vladimir Putin had to be that "Ukraine will never give up territory and that Russia cannot win on the battlefield". He also confirmed that the European defence group MBDA may pass on classified information about British components of the Storm Shadow cruise missile. According to the British government, this is intended to enable the French and the Ukrainians to press ahead with assembling the missile in Ukraine.
Merz reaffirmed Germany's support for Ukraine. "We stand firmly by Ukraine's side," he said in a video published on the online service X. For years, he said, Ukrainians had been defending "the independence of their country against Russia's brutal war of aggression" with "impressive courage".
Macron warned that Russia would try to escalate against European countries "in order to deter them from supporting Ukraine". "It is clear that NATO states are being targeted and that provocations will increase," he stressed. On Saturday, Macron announced a further delivery of interceptor missiles. It was "crucial to give Ukraine all the means it needs to defend its airspace", he said.
Ukraine is in particularly urgent need of ammunition for its Patriot air defence systems, as Zelensky made clear at the weekend. Patriot deliveries have halved since 2023, he said. In 2023 Ukraine still received 675 of these interceptor missiles, and in 2025 only 364. For this year it is currently expecting just 264.
Meanwhile, Russia's second-largest online retailer, Ozon, reported new drone attacks on its storage centres. A fire broke out at a logistics centre in Makhachkala in southern Russia following a drone strike, the company said. Ozon added that warehouses in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk in the south of the country had been "evacuated because of the threat of drone attacks".
Russian authorities said three children had been killed by falling debris during a Ukrainian drone attack. Eight other people were injured. Putin said on Saturday that Ukraine had opened "Pandora's box" with its attacks on Russian economic sites. He announced an escalation that would also target Ukrainian agriculture.
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