Von der Leyen at Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk

The European Commission president opened the fifth Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, framing reconstruction and security as twin priorities for Kyiv.

Brussels Brings Its Weight To Gdansk

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the short journey to Gdansk, Poland, this week to lend the EU's most visible face to the fifth annual Ukraine Recovery Conference, according to the European Commission. Spread across 25 and 26 June 2026, the two-day summit was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine and pulled together heads of government, cabinet ministers and senior European officials with a single coordinating purpose: aligning the international effort to rebuild a country still under daily attack.

The Commission says von der Leyen opened proceedings with the keynote address on Thursday morning, then moved into a leaders' session and an Eastern Flank Summit working lunch that gathered counterparts from eight nations. Much of the formal agenda zeroed in on the parts of Ukraine's economy that Russia's invasion has battered hardest, with energy supply, critical infrastructure and logistics networks at the heart of the conversation.

Defence Joins The Recovery Conversation

What set this year's gathering apart, the Commission notes, was the decision to fold Ukraine's security and defence needs directly into the recovery discussion for the first time. The shift reflects a hard lesson of the past years: there is little point pouring resources into rebuilding power plants, bridges and railways if Ukraine cannot defend them from the next wave of strikes. Reconstruction and self-defence, in other words, have become two halves of the same problem.

The leaders' table in Gdansk drew a notable cast of European and Ukrainian figures, including:

European Council President Antonio Costa
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko
Several additional members of the European Commission

EU officials cast their presence as part of a deliberate, long-running campaign to keep Ukraine high on the international agenda, both while the war grinds on and in the eventual peace that follows. They emphasised that sustaining momentum on energy resilience and critical infrastructure is not optional but urgent, given that Russian strikes continue to single out Ukrainian power generation and transport links.

Why The Meeting Carries Weight

The Gdansk conference is a reminder of how central the European Union has become to organising Western support for Kyiv. By showing up in person and delivering the opening remarks herself, von der Leyen sent a clear signal that Brussels has no intention of stepping back from its role as a driving force behind both emergency relief and the far larger task of long-term rebuilding. The decision to hold the event in Poland also spotlighted the growing influence of the EU's eastern flank states, the members closest to the war and often the most forceful in shaping policy toward Ukraine.

From Pledges To Projects

Now firmly established as an annual fixture, the Recovery Conference faces the same underlying challenge each year: turning political goodwill and financial commitments into tangible results on the ground. Organisers said the central goal in Gdansk was to translate pledges into concrete projects across energy, transport and reconstruction, rather than letting promises stall on paper. The new emphasis on defence adds a further dimension, ensuring that Ukraine's ability to protect what is rebuilt remains part of the plan rather than an afterthought. For von der Leyen and the European leaders alongside her, the message from Gdansk was that recovery and security must advance together if Ukraine is to emerge from the war on a stable footing. All details in this report are attributed to the European Commission.