“Russia continues its relentless attacks against Ukraine’s civilians and civilian infrastructure. We will discuss how to step up our support to Ukraine, namely by reconfirming our commitment to provide financial support to the country for the coming years, and by considering possible options based on Russia’s immobilised assets”. European Council President Antonio Costa said this in his invitation letter to the 27 EU leaders summoned to the next summit on 23 October. “Russia – President Costa said – is paying a high and mounting economic price for its aggression and we will take stock of our efforts to further increase the pressure on it. Both support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia remain the two necessary requirements to achieve a just and lasting peace. We will have the possibility to hear from President Zelenskyy at the beginning of the discussion about Ukraine”. On defence, he added, “we will build on the work done since our informal meeting in Egmont in February this year, and follow up on our recent fruitful discussions in Copenhagen, turning them into commitments and concrete decisions on capability projects and governance”. The roadmap on the so-called “defence readiness 2030”, which will soon be presented by the Commission and the High Representative Kaja Kallas, “will be a useful contribution to our discussions. We need to empower our Defence Ministers to ensure implementation and follow-up in the Council, and reinforce the European Defence Agency”. “Hybrid attacks and drone sightings near our critical infrastructures and hostile incursions in Member States’ airspace are another demonstration of the urgency of accelerating work to achieve European common defence readiness by 2030”.