EU foreign affairs ministers discuss support for Ukraine after Biden lifts veto on weapons

Foreign affairs ministers of the European Union have gathered in Brussels to discuss the rapid succession of developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including US President Joe Biden's decision to lift restrictions on long-range missiles, the deployment of an estimated 10,000 North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and growing suspicions that Moscow has set up shop in China to assemble lethal drones.

The Monday meeting comes a few days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a controversial phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was followed by a large-scale Russian attack against Ukraine's badly damaged power grid.

Looming over the gathering is the recent US presidential election and victory of Donald Trump, who has pledged to revise military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Trump's political comeback is stoking fears that Europe might soon be left alone in its support for the war-torn nation.

"We are facing a completely different landscape and Europeans have to be ready to act without waiting to react for the US decisions," Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said about the Republican's return to the White House.

"Russia continues attacking and we have to continue supporting Ukraine to defend."

Borrell welcomed President Biden's decision to drop his long-held veto and allow Kyiv to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles to hit Russian soil. The High Representative has repeatedly urged member states, in particular Germany, a leading military donor, to lift these restrictions and give Ukraine full room to manoeuvre. But Borrell's attempts to craft an EU-wide position have fallen flat, leaving each country to act unilaterally.

"You know my position," Borrell told reporters on Monday. "Ukraine