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EU leaders are holding an informal summit in Budapest to discuss the continent’s security and Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine days after Donald Trump’s re-election cast doubt on Washington’s continued support for the embattled country and his commitment to NATO’s collective defence.

The summit began as Russia launched a third day of unusually intense attacks on Ukraine’s cities that claimed more deaths and injuries at the start of a third winter for weary Ukrainian civilians and for outmanned and outgunned troops struggling to fend off a fierce Russian offensive in the east.

The US is Ukraine’s most important military and economic supporter, with the EU also among the biggest donors. Most EU leaders have expressed continued strong support for Ukraine.

Ahead of the summit, Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban – who has maintained friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a close ally of US President Donald Trump and has thwarted the bloc’s sanctions regime against Moscow – told Hungarian state radio that the EU must rethink its position on to help Ukraine and calls the conflict a “lost war.”

“The Americans will leave this war, first of all they will not encourage the war,” Orban said.

“Europe cannot finance this war alone… Some still want to continue pouring huge amounts of money into this lost war, but the number of those who remain silent… and those who cautiously argue that we should adapt to the new situation is growing,” he added.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is Ukraine’s main European backer, was quick to confirm the bloc’s unchanged position. “Russia has invaded Ukraine and is continuing this war with unabated brutality,” Scholz said.

“One question is absolutely clear: Together as the EU, as Europeans, we must do what is necessary for our security. This will be particularly successful if everyone makes their contribution.”

Arriving at the summit in Budapest, European Council President Charles Michel also confirmed the bloc’s strong support for Ukraine.

“We have to strengthen Ukraine, to support Ukraine, because if we don’t support Ukraine, this is the wrong signal that we send to Putin, but also to some other authoritarian regimes around the world,” Michel said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was in Budapest on November 7 for a gathering of European leaders ahead of the EU summit, called on Ukraine’s allies to provide more weapons to help Kiev defend its land and skies .

“There has been a lot of talk about the need to give in to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, to back up, to make some concessions. This is unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all of Europe,” Zelenskiy said in his speech.

He also said that talk of imposing a ceasefire without first agreeing on security guarantees for Ukraine was “very dangerous”.

“A ceasefire when there are no security guarantees…is a preparation for the continuation of the occupation,” he said.

“They take pleasure in killing people,” Zelenskiy separately said the X, referring to Russian forces.

On November 8, Russia continued its pressure on Ukraine’s cities, hitting the southern region of Odesa and Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city.

At least one person was killed and at least 38 others, including a baby, were injured, according to regional officials.

A massive overnight drone attack on Odesa left one person dead and nine others injured, Ukraine’s emergency service reported, adding that residential buildings, businesses, warehouses and a school were also damaged.

Kharkiv was hit for the second day in a row on November 8, Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported.

A Russian missile hit a high-rise building in the city’s Saltiv district, injuring at least 25 people, including a 3-month-old baby, Terekhov said. Residential buildings and historic buildings in the center of the city were also damaged, he added.

In the Kyiv region, falling debris from a Russian rocket injured four people, two of them seriously, regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said.

Separate the Ukrainian Air Force said its air defense systems shot down 62 of the 92 drones launched by Russia in 12 of its regions – Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskiy and Ivano-Frankivsk.