Europe's five meet in Berlin Ukraine support and disputes

Jun 24

Yulia Olkhovskaya reports the June 24 Berlin meeting of Germany, France, Britain, Poland and Italy. She describes their joint call for a European negotiating role; Starmer urges sanctions and more military aid, Merz cites a 3.5-percent defense-spending goal by 2029, and Macron calls for continued transatlantic coordination before the Ankara NATO summit. She notes Zelensky's absence and describes Polish–Ukrainian tensions over UPA commemoration, refugee-return and boycott calls, and a Myśl Polska argument for basic relations with Russia. Tusk criticizes escalation by both presidents. The report says Zelensky was not invited to the forthcoming Gdańsk recovery conference; Marcin Przydacz criticizes fundraising for him and alleges corruption and diversion through historical disputes. It briefly describes European–Ukrainian missile-development plans. A replayed Dieter Bohlen interview criticizes armaments cooperation and the absence of peace advocates; the reporter describes backlash and economic criticism. In a separate Handelsblatt interview excerpt, Martin Brudermüller says Mercedes' founders might choose Asia or the United States today. The report discusses production relocation and military-sector investment. These political, corruption and economic assessments retain attribution; proposals are not completed systems, and the bulletin's claim about the recovery-conference invitation is not independently resolved.

At the June 24 Berlin statements, the five E5 leaders advocate a stronger European role within NATO, allied coordination and closer defence industrial cooperation. Merz says defence spending will rise to 3.5%, with Germany aiming for 2029, rejects national go-it-alone policies and advocates shared work on air defence, standoff weapons and AI. Macron supports larger capabilities, budgets, deterrence and industrial partnership; Meloni emphasizes strategic resilience and Italy's AI expertise. Starmer describes a forthcoming British investment plan and calls for faster European innovation and production in coordination with the United States. Tusk stresses eastern-flank representation and greater national effort. His German-interpreted spending figure is nearly 7%, with no denominator specified in this passage. These are pledges, plans and attributed claims; the statements establish neither universal target compliance nor an adopted British plan.