By SAM McNEIL and SYLVIE CORBET

BRUSSELS (AP) — Germany, France and other European countries vowed their unwavering support for Ukraine on Monday as their diplomats scrambled to finalize new sanctions on Russia and a massive new loan for Kyiv ahead of the fourth anniversary of a war that has left an estimated 1.8 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dead, wounded or missing.

They also struggled once again to persuade Hungary to support the latest EU efforts to help Ukraine and to make Russia pay an economic price for the all-out war that it launched against its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022, and which shows no signs of ending.

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Hungary, seen as the most pro-Russian member of the EU, threatened on the weekend to veto both the sanctions and a major loan meant to help Kyiv meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz marked what he called “four monstrous years of war” at a pro-Ukrainian event in Berlin on Monday.

“I appeal again to our European partners — do not let up in your support, in our common support, for Ukraine,” Merz said. “We are standing at a crossroads that could decide on the well-being of our whole continent.”

“No one can say today whether the weapons will fall silent in Ukraine in six weeks, in six months or even later,” Merz said. “But we are working for them to fall silent as quickly as possible.”

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that “our determination to continue supporting Ukraine is unwavering.” He met with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, another staunch supporter of Ukraine who urged European allies to raise the costs on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU diplomats grapple with Hungary’s objections

Many EU leaders had hoped to move forward on the sanctions and loan before the anniversary of the war’s start Tuesday.

But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that the foreign ministers of the EU’s 27 member states meeting in Brussels would likely not agree Monday on the 20th package of sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet and energy revenues.

Hungary on the weekend threatened to block the sanctions and to obstruct a $106 billion loan for Ukraine which it had previously agreed to, saying it would stand firm until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume.

Russian oil shipments to both Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán doubled down Monday on an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine is deliberately holding back shipments of Russian oil, and accused Kyiv of seeking to topple his government. He referred to the oil supply disruptions as a “Ukrainian oil blockade” led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“No one has the right to put our energy security at risk,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said as he sparred with journalists in Brussels ahead of the meeting.

Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Raising the pressure on Russia

Some European leaders stressed that the most effective way to get Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine is to raise the cost to Russia of continuing the war.

“This war will only end when Russia no longer sees any sense in continuing it; when Russia can no longer expect more territorial gains; when Russia’s costs for this madness have simply become too high,” Merz said. “We must dry up Moscow’s war financing.”

In Paris, Finland’s leader argued that Russia’s war in Ukraine was a “strategic failure” as he made the case for ratcheting up pressure on Putin.

“It is also a military failure — he is now losing many soldiers — and, on top of that, it is an economic failure,” Stubb said, speaking in French. “Putin is not winning this war, but he cannot make peace.”

The EU has already sent Ukraine $229.8 billion in financial assistance while at the same time squeezing Russia’s key energy exports.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Hungary’s looming election hangs over EU talks

Facing a crucial election in less than two months, Orbán has launched an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign and accused the opposition Tisza party, which leads in most polls, of conspiring with the EU and Ukraine to install what he called Monday a “pro-Ukraine government aligned with Brussels and Kyiv.”

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said he believed Hungary’s veto threat could really be about Orbán’s fierce fight to hold onto power.

Orbán, the EU’s longest-serving leader, will face off in April against the greatest challenge to his power since he took office in 2010.

“I would have expected a much greater feeling of solidarity from Hungary for Ukraine,” Sikorski said in Brussels. “The ruling party managed to create a climate of hostility towards the victim of aggression. And then it is now trying to exploit that in the general election. It’s quite shocking.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Hungary had already agreed in December to the EU loan, and it is unclear how it can backtrack now.

“We must release that. We must find an agreement between the member states because Ukraine needs this money heavily,” said Margus Tsahkna, the foreign minister of Estonia, which on Tuesday will celebrate the 108th anniversary of its independence from then-Soviet Russia in 1918.

Corbet reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Justin Spike in Budapest and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the Caribbean country of St. Kitts and Nevis this week to reassert the Trump administration’s interests in the Western Hemisphere just a month after the U.S. military operation that removed then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.

With the eyes of much of the world on the U.S military buildup in the Middle East and President Donald Trump’s threats to attack Iran, Rubio will make a one-day visit to St. Kitts on Wednesday to participate in a summit of leaders from the Caribbean Community, the State Department said.

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Rubio has long championed a greater U.S. role in the Western Hemisphere and aims to keep it in focus even as Trump’s Republican administration has now shifted its top foreign policy priority to Iran, around which American forces are now massing in even larger numbers than in the run-up to the Jan. 3 Venezuela operation that captured and deposed Maduro.

Maduro has been accused in a U.S. court of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. and has pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s action against Maduro coupled with an increasingly aggressive posture aimed at eliminating drug trafficking and illegal migration have proven a concern for many in the region although they have also won support from some smaller states.

Trump, Rubio and others have likened the administration’s Western Hemisphere strategy to the Monroe Doctrine, with its rejection of outside influences and assertion of U.S. primacy throughout in what they consider to be “America’s backyard.”

Trump has said his ouster of Maduro, military strikes on alleged drug-running vessels in the Caribbean, seizures of sanctioned oil tankers and tightened embargo of Cuba are key parts of a Trump corollary to the 19th-century policy that he refers to as the “Donroe Doctrine.”

In numerous group and bilateral meetings at the CARICOM meeting, Rubio intends to discuss ways to promote regional security and stability, trade and economic growth, the State Department said in a statement on Monday.

“During his visit, the Secretary will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to working with CARICOM member states to enhance stability and prosperity in our hemisphere,” it said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel joined the American men’s hockey players in the locker room Sunday for a rowdy celebration of winning the gold medal in the Winter Olympics.

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While he was in Milan, the U.S. Secret Service shot and killed an armed man who had driven into Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Florida. Hours later, around the time the game against Canada was headed into overtime, Patel posted on X that the FBI was “dedicating all necessary resources in the investigation.”

Videos shared on social media showed a pumped-up Patel drinking beer from a bottle and spraying the rest around the locker room. After one of the players draped his gold medal around Patel’s neck, he joined the players as they jumped up and down.

“There was a threat at the president’s residence at MAL, Americans in Mexico are facing major threats by cartel members, Nancy Guthrie is still missing, and our FBI Director thinks he’s a frat bro?!,” Xochitl Hinojosa, the spokeswoman for former Attorney General Merrick Garland said on X.

Patel responded to the criticism by posting that he was “extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys.”

United States’ Jack Hughes (86), right, celebrates with teammates after scoring the game winning goal against Canada in sudden death overtime during the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The FBI director had defended his official trip to Italy by saying he was going to meet with Italian law enforcement officials and Americans helping to provide security at the Olympics. He posted pictures this week of his visit to the Milan Joint Operations Center, which he said was charged with protecting the security of American athletes and all those who traveled to Milan for the Winter Games. He also posted a photo of his meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

By SAM McNEIL

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomats are set to meet Monday with the director of the Board of Peace in Brussels after a shaky and controversial embrace of President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Nikolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. diplomat chosen by Trump to manage the Board of Peace, will meet the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and foreign ministers from across the 27-nation bloc. The EU diplomats are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and fresh sanctions on Russia.

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“We want to be part of the peace process in Gaza and also contribute with what we have,” Kallas said ahead of the meeting.

Just across the Mediterranean Sea from the Middle East, the EU has deep links to Israel and the Palestinians. It now plays a crucial oversight role at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and is the top donor to the Palestinian Authority.

The question of whether to work with the Trump-led board has split national capitals from Nicosia to Copenhagen. The EU is supportive of the United Nations’ mandate in Gaza.

EU members Hungary and Bulgaria are full members of the board, as are EU candidate countries Turkey, Kosovo and Albania.

Twelve other EU nations sent observers to the inaugural meeting in Washington on Thursday: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The EU flag was displayed at the event alongside EU observer and member nations.

European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen turned down invitation to join, as did Pope Leo XIV. But von der Leyen did send European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica to the meeting in Washington as an observer.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said sending Šuica without consulting the European Council, the group of the bloc’s leaders, broke EU regulations.

FILE – European Commissioner in charge for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Suica delivers her speech at the European Parliament during a debate on the protection of children and young people fleeing the war against Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. In Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, file)

“The European Commission should never have attended the Board of Peace meeting in Washington,” Barrot said in a post on X. “Beyond the legitimate political questions raised by the ‘Board of Peace,’ the Commission must scrupulously respect European law and institutional balance in all circumstances.”

“It is in the remit of the commission to accept invitations,” von der Leyen spokesperson Paula Pinho said Friday.

While the executive is not joining the board, it is seeking to influence reconstruction and peacekeeping in Gaza beyond being the top donor to the Palestinian Authority, she said.

Trump’s ballooning ambitions for the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the U.N. Security Council’s role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achieving the narrower aims of the ceasefire.