European Union leaders have agreed to give more financial and military aid to Ukraine, but they were no closer to deciding on whether or how to cap gas prices after holding an informal summit in Prague on October 7.
Most of the EU's 27 countries want a cap on gas prices to deal with soaring prices amid a decline in gas supplies from Russia. The EU has been discussing a price cap for weeks, but disagreements over details of how to do it have left it without a result.
Gas and electricity prices have skyrocketed because of Russia's turning off the taps in response to the EU slapping successive waves of sanctions on Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a "road map" of measures to help ease the burden -- including a potential price cap.
Ideas include capping the price of Russian gas imports, reducing the price of other gas imports, limiting the price of gas used for electricity generation, and capping the price of gas transactions within the bloc.
"Everyone agrees we need to lower power prices but there is no agreement what instruments to use to that end exactly," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin also said that "lots of work needed to be done" still before an agreement emerges.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the bloc's executive later this month will present EU leaders with a broader package of short-term measures to lower prices and longer-term steps to redesign the electricity market.
SEE ALSO: EU Approves Eighth Round Of Sanctions Against RussiaAs the meeting in Prague closed, France announced it has created a fund for Ukraine to directly buy weapons and other materiel directly from arms manufacturers.
"We are setting up this special, dedicated fund initially with 100 million euros to allow the acquisition of equipment that we have already delivered and that we will continue to do so in terms of weapons, meaning defensive ones," President Emmanuel Macron said.
He added that discussions were being held, particularly with Denmark, to deliver more highly accurate CAESAR truck-mounted cannons to Ukraine. This would be in addition to the 18 it has already given.
The bloc's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said earlier during the summit that he wanted the bloc to earmark more money for military support for Ukraine, including for training, and that specific proposals on that could be approved later this month.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would make an important contribution to the European training mission.
On the gas price cap matter, Scholz said the meeting had helped clear "misunderstandings" about Berlin's plan to spend up to 200 billion euros ($196 billion) in subsidies to shield German consumers and businesses from soaring energy costs.
Morawiecki had criticized the plan as an attempt to use the crisis to gain a competitive advantage for German businesses. Scholz countered by saying that other EU countries, including France and the Netherlands, had their own support measures in place.
SEE ALSO: What Did The First Meeting Of The European Political Community Actually Achieve?Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the EU leaders virtually, calling for more air systems to defend Ukrainian energy infrastructure from Russian strikes.
"Russia brought war to our land...and only thanks to the fact that the Ukrainian people stopped this invasion by Russia, Russia cannot yet bring the same war to other parts of Europe, in particular, the Baltic countries, Poland, and Moldova," Zelenskiy said, according to a transcript on his website.
He also called for international pressure to remove Russian troops from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in occupied Ukraine, and for funds to rebuild Ukraine.