Photo: elements.envato.com

The leaders of the European Union held a discussion on whether they could continue to support Ukraine’s military efforts if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump decides to end such support, Bloomberg said on Friday, citing its own sources.

The publication notes concern that Trump will allegedly try to shift the financial burden of the war onto Europe, but nothing in the initial conversations suggests a significant change in tactics.

"If we talk about the possibility of peace today, it's because the Ukrainians had extraordinary courage and because the West supported Ukraine… However, we will see how the scenario evolves in the coming weeks," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told reporters after arriving for the second day of talks on Friday.

Some politicians argued that Europe should wait until Trump is inaugurated in January 2025 to learn his intentions towards Ukraine, but others said they could not afford that luxury and that the European Commission should come up with proposals on how the bloc would respond if the U.S. aid was cut off.

"Some EU leaders say that in such a case, the EU should take on full financial responsibility for Ukraine... I believe it is impossible, and Slovakia will not consent to that," Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the EU has become the largest provider of aid to Ukraine, having given EUR 118 billion ($127 billion) since the start of the war. The United States has given a total of $85 billion, including $17 billion this year, while the EU has given twice as much. "Some European officials said the real issues was not so much the money itself, which should still due, but the available military resources, which largely come from the United States. The US is a crucial source for some of the most powerful weapons, such as F-16s and ATACMs, long-range missiles that allowed Ukraine, the long-range missiles that have allowed Ukraine to strike Russian forces well behind the front lines. Its manufacturing capacity is also vital to maintaining supplies of the 155mm shells that are at the heart of Ukraine's defensive operations," the publication said.

Trump has reportedly already begun his first round of phone calls with European leaders, and one of those conversations focused on Trump's approach to negotiations with Vladimir Putin. "Trump has made it clear he understands he can't simply push Ukraine to make concessions to Putin without providing anything in return, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A Trump spokesman was not immediately available for comment," the article reports.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters on Thursday that it was now an "open question" whether the United States and EU would deliver the latest EUR 50 billion aid package. He also told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron that they must also talk to Putin or the EU would be sidelined from discussions on Ukraine's future, a source familiar with the discussions said.

The publication writes that the Hungarian prime minister said the United States would stop its support and Europe would not be able to finance the war in Ukraine, but he, who has long opposed aid to Kyiv and maintained close ties with Putin and Trump, is "far from being an honest broker in the discussions."