Lithuania’s political leaders were briefly taken to shelters after alarm was raised over an unidentified object violating the country’s airspace from Belarus, Lithuanian media reported.

Media reports said that prime minister Gintautas Paluckas and parliament speaker Saulius Skvernelis were taken to safety as the situation was investigated. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda is on a foreign trip in Ireland.

According to reports, authorities were worried that the flying object could be a Shahed drone of the type used by Russia in ongoing attacks on Ukraine.

The Lithuanian Army confirmed on its Facebook page that the object was detected at 11.30am local time. After its fighter jets were tasked with responding to the incident, the object quickly fell to the ground around a kilometer from the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.

After closer investigation, the object was confirmed as an unmanned makeshift plane – reportedly made of plywood and foam – and as not posing immediate danger.

But the head of the parliamentary defence committee, Giedrimas Jeglinskas, told Lithuanian media that a further investigation of the incident was needed to establish if it was a provocation from Belarus or Russia.

EU 'blind' on US intentions on tariffs deal

Lisa O'Carroll

in Brussels

The EU and the US are no closer to announcing a deal after a phone call between EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer, it has emerged.

The agreement in principle is expected to be a three page document outlining headline reductions in tariffs for cars, medical devices and possibly steel, in exchange for a baseline 10% import duty on all imports from the bloc and some simplification of paperwork on food imports.

Sources say the agreement is just waiting for Trump’s sign off and that did not happen last night so the call with Greer could never have delivered the deal.

It could yet come later today but the EU is blind on Trump’s announcement intentions.

The European Commission has the power to accept the deal as it is not legally binding as it is an agreement in principle, meaning there is no need for the type of show business moment granted to UK prime minister Keir Starmer when he took a call from Trump while visiting Jaguar Land Rover’s factory in England.

Elsewhere, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen easily survived the no confidence vote in the European parliament in Strasbourg, with 175 votes in favour, and 360 votes against. 18 MEPs abstained.

In his comments, Poland’s Tusk also highlights that “Ukraine is not only a country in need, but also a country that inspires, that teaches us courage, resilience … but also innovation,” as he points out to its work on drones and autonomous defence.

He says:

“Ukraine is testing all of them already today, and Nato is learning from Ukraine, and must do so even more in order to strengthen its deterrence.”

He ends with an appeal:

“Our consciences cannot rest while Putin attacks civilian civilians, night after night.

Ending this war must be our common cause.”

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk is up next.

He says:

There will be no recovery without victory.

He says today’s meeting is about “how to help Ukraine not only to survive, but to win and to rise again – not only in material terms, but also spiritually and socially.”

He declares:

“Ukraine’s victory is a matter of security for the whole of Europe.

And victory means territorial integrity, sovereignty, and to put it simply, a just and lasting peace.”

Tusk says that “we all now understand that this is not a war just about Ukraine, but a war about Europe … or perhaps even about the world.”

“Fault lines are appearing across the whole globe.

This is a war between civilisation and barbarism.”

He then talks about the Polish support for Ukraine, including on transport, trade, and investment.

Merz also says he has a direct message for Washington DC and president Donald Trump, as he urges him to “stay with us, stay with the Europeans.”

“We are on the same page, and we are looking for a stable political order in this world. …

Stay with us, on this side and on this page of our common history.”

Contining his speech, Germany’s Merz says that “the ultimate prerequisite for Ukraine’s recovery is, simply, peace.”

He warns that while Ukraine “is committed to achieving a just peace” and agreed to talks, Russia shows daily “that it wants to continue, every intensity, its brutal war of aggression.”

“This has to end,” he says.

He says “it remains our political duty to increase pressure on Russia to change president Putin’s calculations and bring [him] to the negotiating table.”

He then uses the speech to pointedly call out Slovakia and its prime minister, Robert Fico, as he urges him drop his opposition to the 18th package of sanctions against Ukraine.

The message is quite simple, we will not give up.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz is the next speaker and he starts by talking about the postwar recovery of Europe after the second world war.

He says:

“I don’t mean to draw any misleading historical comparisons, but some of the recipes that were applied back then can still serve us when we focus at Ukraine’s recovery today.”

He says Ukraine can count on strong international partners in the process, including Germany, highlighting its support to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

He says the Ukrainian Business Development Fund is modelled on Germany’s similar program after the second world war.

Merz also talks about Ukraine’s defence industry, with plans to take “the defence industrial cooperation between our countries to a higher level.”

The German chancellor then turns to Ukraine’s ambitions to join the EU and declares:

To be very clear on this, we fully support Ukraine on its path to EU membership.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen opens her speech by saying Europe has been on Ukraine’s side from day one and “will be on your side for as long as it takes.”

She then talks about EU’s plans to rearm and invest in defence across the continent, including in partnership with non-member states like Ukraine.

She says the EU remains Ukraine’s largest donor, with almost €165bn of support this year alone. She announces further grants – of €1 and €3bn respectively – signed as part of today’s conference.

She then announces a new “flagship” fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, which she says is the largest equity fund globally to support reconstruction, focusing on energy, transport, critical and raw materials, and dual use industries.

We are literally taking a stake in Ukraine’s future.

She says the EU is joined in the fund by Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and the European Investment Bank.

She then turns to Ukraine’s plans to join the EU, as she declares the commission is “ready to proceed with the next step on the accession path, to open cluster one” of accession negotiations.

“Now we have to act, to move forward for millions of Ukrainians, soldiers, teachers, doctors, farmers, you name it.

For Ukrainians from all walks of life, and for them, the future has two flags: the flag of Ukraine and the flag of Europe.”

Zelenskyy says that “around 200 agreements are ready to be signed” at this conference, with the total value of over €10bn, as he singles out energy as a particular priority for the coming months.

Putin has only two real allies, terror and winter, and we must respond to both.

He adds:

“All of us must keep up the pressure on Russia. All of us must keep working for defence so that we can bring a real ceasefire as soon as possible.”

He ends:

Let’s do everything we can for real peace as soon as possible, just peace. Slava Ukraini.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine needs a “Marshall plan-style” effort to guide its reconstruction. “We should develop it together,” he says.

He tells leaders that it’s not just charity, but investment:

“Rebuilding Ukraine is not just about our country. It’s also about your countries, your companies, technology, your jobs, the way we rebuild our country can also modernise your infrastructure and industries.”

He then says Europe should “clearly agree that frozen Russian assets should go towards Ukraine’s recovery.”

“Not only the income from these assets, but the assets themselves must be used and much more actively than they are now to help save lives.”

Zelenskyy also picks up Meloni’s earlier point (11:36) and says “only friends are invited to be a part of Ukraine’s economic and technological recovery,” and not “those who are helping Russia continuing this war.”