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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the European Union will use a special emergency assistance mechanism to quickly provide Ukraine with funds.
In a statement on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he discussed the issue during a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“There is a very difficult situation in many of our cities and communities with the supply of electricity, water and heat because of Russian strikes. The hardest is in Kyiv, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Donetsk regions, and in Kherson,” he said.
He said he told von der Leyen about the challenges, and they agreed that the EU would use the mechanism.
“This will make it possible to quickly provide Ukraine with funds for what is most needed now. Teams are already working on it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin insisted that upcoming talks in Abu Dhabi to end the Ukraine war will still be held in the Ukraine-Russia-U.S. format, after France announced that Europe will also send representatives.
"What is set to take place in Abu Dhabi are trilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine under the mediation of the United States," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"As for the Europeans, there are separate channels of communication between the Ukrainians and Europeans, as well as the Americans and Europeans," he added.
Zelenskyy said he also discussed additional energy and humanitarian aid to prepare for winter with von der Leyen, as well as EU integration issues.
According to him, the European Commission published its annual EU enlargement report last week, which assessed Ukraine’s progress positively.
“It is important to open all clusters and start closing chapters,” he said.
The report, released Nov. 4, said Ukraine has met the conditions to open all remaining negotiating clusters.
Kyiv has opened four of the six clusters over the past year, and the Commission believes the remaining two could be opened before the end of 2026, a step that requires approval from EU member states.
On diplomacy, Zelenskyy said talks were held in Brussels in recent days, where Ukrainian teams "worked well" on a recovery plan and security guarantees from Europe.
He said he and von der Leyen also coordinated positions on the upcoming trilateral Russia-U.S.-Ukraine meeting in Abu Dhabi.
"We are doing everything to make the trilateral format bring results," he said.
Zelenskyy’s comments come after his talks in Istanbul with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, their third in-person meeting in four months.
During the visit, he said he was ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Türkiye and would welcome Turkish mediation, including a possible three-way leaders’ summit hosted by Ankara.
The two leaders also discussed an energy ceasefire as winter approaches and Russia continues its ballistic missile attacks.
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