European countries with the largest defense budgets name Russia their main security threat and pledge continued support for Ukraine

Defense ministers from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, and France met in Paris on October 26 as members of the E5 group — the countries with the largest defense budgets — to discuss support for Ukraine ahead of winter.

After the meeting, the ministers named Russia the main long-term threat to European security and pledged to keep supporting Ukraine despite Washington’s warming relations with Moscow.

“Our countries share the assessment that Russia represents the most acute and long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security and stability,” the final statement reads. Russia’s war against Ukraine and intensifying hybrid attacks in Europe “do not undermine our unity, solidarity and cohesion. On the contrary, they strengthen our determination to pursue the efforts already undertaken to safeguard the integrity and security of Allied territory,” the ministers said.

The ministers pledged to continue backing Ukraine but announced no new military or financial aid packages, Bloomberg said. During the meeting, they limited themselves to reaffirming earlier commitments.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed that the allies would work to preserve U.S. support for Ukraine: “We will do everything we can to ensure that the U.S. also supports Ukraine with supplies, as well as with intelligence and satellite data.”

The latest deterioration in relations between Ukraine and the United States is forcing Europe to consider how to help Ukraine without American support, Bloomberg said. Pistorius said the E5 countries are also working with Ukraine on their own air defense system meant to supplement the U.S. Patriot systems.

Relations between Kyiv and Washington have deteriorated sharply amid a fuel crisis. Donald Trump first demanded that Ukraine stop striking Russian fuel infrastructure, and when a cease-fire could not be reached, he eased sanctions against Russia, allowing diesel fuel to be sold on the world market.

In response, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Trump of trying to force Ukraine into capitulation, saying the United States is delaying shipments of missiles for Patriot air defense systems and restricting the operation of Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine.