German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Europe must continue to provide strong support to Ukraine to ensure any eventual ceasefire agreed between Kyiv and Moscow lasts.

He made the comments as he arrived at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

“We must continue our support with a clear position that a just peace must be possible for Ukraine,” Scholz said.

“That means that Ukraine can defend its independence and sovereignty, that she decides her own path and chooses her own leaders, and naturally also that she has a strong army in peacetime.”

Scholz said the debt package recently agreed by Germany’s likely future coalition to allow increased defense spending is an important part of this plan.

“We will now be able to do what we must as a big state in the middle of Europe,” he said.

Once the debt reform is cleared by Germany’s upper house of parliament, some €3 billion ($3.27 billion) in military aid is expected to go to Ukraine.

This week’s gathering in Brussels will likely be Scholzs last EU leaders’ summit. German conservative leader Friedrich Merz is expected to have replaced him as chancellor by the time the bloc’s next high-level meeting happens in June.

An airfield near a Russian strategic bomber base in the southern city of Engels was hit in a major Ukrainian drone attack overnight, according to officials.

Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov region where Engels is located, said it was the largest drone attack on the area since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

“All emergency services are working hard to clear the aftermath,” the TASS news agency cited Busargin as saying.

The strikes damaged 30 homes and sparked a blaze at the airfield, he added.

Local officials said a state of emergency had been declared in the Engels district as a result and that nearby residents had been evacuated.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses had shot down more than 130 Ukrainian drones in six regions in the south of the country overnight.

It said 54 of those drones were intercepted in the Saratov region.

The Engels base located there is around 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the front lines in Ukraine and hosts Russia’s Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear capable heavy strategic bombers.

While European leaders are meeting in Brussels, military chiefs from countries keen to help protect an eventual ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine will meet in the United Kingdom.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking to assemble a coalition of countries that would be willing to help protect any eventual ceasefire deal reached by Moscow and Kyiv.

The British government said around 30 countries had pledged to be involved in some way, while a “significant number”  were also open to deploying troops — something the UK and France have also said they would be willing to do.

Thursday’s gathering of military chiefs is expected to see planning for such a peacekeeping force move into an “operational phase,” according to the British prime minister.

Starmer said over the weekend that the meeting would “put strong and robust plans in place to swing in behind a peace deal and guarantee Ukraine’s future security.”

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss, among other things, boosting the bloc’s military capabilities amid uncertainty about future US defense support.

The leaders  are also expected to reaffirm their financial and military backing for Kyiv in the war with Russia.

Also on Thursday, military chiefs from around 30 countries are  gathering in Britain to begin planning the next steps for a possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

We’ll keep you up to date on developments at those meetings and what they mean for Europe’s security landscape and the war in Ukraine.