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Getting Creative
Days after Donald Trump basked in the applause of world leaders cheering his success in delivering a peace plan for Gaza, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will try to leverage American power to help Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader will be meeting with Trump at the White House later today, but his task just got harder.
Hours earlier, Trump took a call from Vladimir Putin and announced he will meet Russian leader “within the next two weeks or so” in Budapest, for their second summit to end the war. This is likely to deflate any pressure that had been building on Putin in recent weeks.
Trump and Zelenskiy will discuss air defense, long-range weaponry and energy assistance as Moscow intensifies strikes on its water and gas infrastructure with winter creeping in. It’ll be Zelenskiy’s third Oval Office visit this year — and, Kyiv hopes, a marked contrast with the first in February, when a sharp exchange turned the meeting into a fiasco.
A Ukrainian serviceman fills a bottle with water from a pump as Russian attacks in Kyiv cut power and water supply.
Photographer: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian officials have brought more to the table as they solicit badly needed US weaponry and energy.
One proposal involves a prospective deal that could see Ukrainian drones manufactured in the US or in Europe to be exported back for use by the US military, we’re told.
The US could also be interested in exporting liquefied natural gas to help with Ukraine’s energy needs in the wake of Russian strikes.
In exchange, Zelenskiy may offer Trump the opportunity for US oil companies to use his country’s pipeline infrastructure to export to Slovakia and Hungary. He’s put pressure on both countries — including his friend Prime Minister Viktor Orban — to cut their energy dependence on Russia.
Ukraine aims to use the moment. Olga Stefanishyna, the country’s ambassador to the US, made the case. Trump’s “exceptional leadership” in the Middle East is needed as Ukraine works toward a “global political surge to end the war.”
Around the Region
Montenegro: The Balkan nation is taking inspiration from Trump on strong-arming a central bank. The campaign hasn’t gone unnoticed by the EU and the ECB, whose representatives visited this year to assess the situation.
Poland: The government is seeking protective measures against an increase in imports of duty-free steel from Ukraine, which has put its domestic industry in jeopardy.
Latvia: The EU should pool its resources on defense spending and consider a common budget financed by jointly-issued debt, according to ECB’s Governing Council member Martins Kazaks.
Slovakia: A political stalemate over the central bank governor, Peter Kazimir, may enable him to keep his job until the next parliamentary election in 2027, despite a bribery conviction.
Croatia: State-owned oil pipeline operator Janaf d.d. is seeking to diversify its business with new clients and renewable energy as its biggest customer is now under US sanctions, a management board told us in an interview.
Kosovo: Relations with the US are key for Kosovo even if Washington has indefinitely suspended a process intended to forge closer ties between the two countries, the Balkan nation’s foreign minister said.
Chart of the Week
Hungary’s forint steadied against the euro after central bank Governor Mihaly Varga and his team went on a publicity tour to emphasize their commitment to tight monetary policy and a stable currency to fight inflation. That mostly calmed investor concerns, for now, about pressure from Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his economy minister, who triggered a slide in the Hungarian currency with calls for more monetary stimulus earlier this month.
By the Numbers
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva plans to travel to Ukraine in a show of support for the war-battered nation. A new loan program could total about $8 billion.
Orlen SA, the largest oil refiner in Poland, offered to buy out cash-strapped Grupa Azoty SA from a project to build the biggest propylene and polypropylene plant in the region for 1.02 billion zloty ($280 million).
Romanian inflation stayed slightly below 10% last month after a raft of tax increases that seek to trim the EU’s widest budget gap pushed it to around the highest level in more than two years.
Polish policymakers Gabriela Maslowska and Henryk Wnorowski urged more caution on further monetary easing because of inflation risks, signaling the latest rate cut may not be repeated in November.
Things to Watch
Czech billionaire Andrej Babis moves forward with his effort to form a government with populist and a far-right parties
Slovenia hosts a meeting of nine like-minded Mediterranean EU member states, with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visiting
Hungarian central bank meets Tuesday for a rate-setting meeting
Alexandru Munteanu is awaiting confirmation as Moldova’s new prime minster
Earnings kick off across the region, with Bank Millennium and Orange Polska reporting third-quarter results
Final Thought
Lithuania’s cultural community spearheaded protests against a junior government coalition partner, the Dawn of Nemunas. The populist party whose founder is on trial for inciting hatred, has been handed the Culture Ministry. The resignation of a minister earlier this month wasn’t enough — representatives from the community want the portfolio out of the party’s hands. “These are symbolic things,” said Dagne Vildziunaite, who helps to coordinate protesters. “It’s about showing: ‘You don’t care about culture, so we are taking it back.’” The government and the president have met with the movement to try to find a compromise, but the protesters say there will be no compromise until the Dawn of Nemunas isn’t overseeing the Baltic nation’s cultural institutions.
A protester outside the presidential palace in Vilnius on Oct. 10.
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