The European Union has quietly sought to reopen communication with Russia

The two-day summit is to focus on three topics: supporting Ukraine, the EU’s next long-term budget, and global economic challenges

European Union leaders agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for 12 months.

The European attitude, until very recently, has been to sit back and hope that US president Donald Trump sorts it out.

No results have been reported, but the meeting is of particular significance given the escalation of the historical conflict between the two countries and the approaching Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Gdańsk, in which President Zelenskyy's participation had originally been planned.