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Von der Leyen calls Trump after Russian attack on Kyiv, says Ukraine must become ‘steel porcupine’

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday after Russia bombarded Kyiv overnight, killing at least a dozen people and damaging the EU delegation’s building.

Von der Leyen wrote on X that she had spoken to Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the “massive strike on Kyiv which also hit our EU offices.” She added that Vladimir Putin “must come to the negotiating table.”

Ukraine should have “firm and credible security guarantees that will turn the country into a steel porcupine,” von der Leyen said. “Europe will fully play its part.”

The deadly assault on Kyiv came despite Trump’s recent efforts to broker an end to the conflict, including summits in Alaska and Washington with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

While the Kremlin has paid lip service to negotiating a truce, it has refused to back down from its maximalist demands — namely that Ukraine give up vast, heavily fortified swathes of territory in its eastern Donbas region, which Russian troops have only partially occupied, and commit to never joining NATO.

The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, said the EU delegation’s building in Kyiv was “severely damaged by the shock wave” of the “massive” barrage of drones and ballistic missiles Russia launched. No staff were injured.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of having “targeted diplomats — in direct breach of the Vienna Convention,” while the EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas called it “a deliberate choice to escalate and mock” peace efforts, and said the Russian envoy in Brussels was being summoned.

Von der Leyen is set to visit seven EU member countries on Russia’s doorstep in the coming days in a lightning tour designed to shore up unity against Moscow’s aggression.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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