BRUSSELS — The European Union cannot rely on the United States to defend it and must increase military spending and security preparedness to help Ukraine and deter Russia from targeting any more of its neighbors, top EU officials warned on Wednesday.

“Ask not of America what it can do for our security. Ask yourselves what we can do for our own security,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU presidency, said, paraphrasing a quote from U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961.

In an address to EU lawmakers, Tusk urged the 27-nation bloc to “take control” of its own security and to identify its weaknesses. “If Europe is to survive, it must be armed,” he said.

Anxiety is mounting that U.S. President Donald Trump might seek to quickly end the war in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on terms that are unfavorable to Ukraine, or once again refuse to defend European allies who do not boost their military budgets.

“We need to believe again in our power,” Tusk told the assembly, in Strasbourg, France. “We are strong, we are equal to the greatest powers in the world. The only thing we have to do is believe in it.”

Tusk said that his country is spending close to 5% of its gross domestic product on its defense budget, more than any NATO ally including the United States. He urged his European partners to match that rate at least until Russia backs down.

“It is today that we need to radically increase our defense spending (but) not forever and ever.”

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned of the dangers that Russia already poses, laying out a list of acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and electronic GPS jamming that she accuses Moscow of underwriting.

“Many of our national intelligence agencies are giving us the information that Russia could test the EU’s readiness to defend itself in 3 to 5 years,” she said at a European Defense Agency gathering. “Who else are we listening to if not to them?”

Kallas warned that Russia’s defense industry “is churning out tanks, glide bombs, and artillery shells in vast quantities. In 3 months, they can produce more weapons and more ammunition than we can in 12.”

She described Russia as “a heavily militarised country that presents an existential threat to us all. We are running out of time. The Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, and ours. They are all buying us time.”

Kallas noted that EU member states are spending an average of about 1.9% of GDP on their military budgets, while Russia is spending 9%. Twenty-three EU nations are also members of NATO, which encourages allies to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense.

Apart from leaving the world’s biggest trading bloc exposed, Kallas said, “Europe’s failure to invest in military capabilities also sends a dangerous signal to the aggressor. Weakness invites them in.”

Kallas underlined that the United States is “our strongest ally and must remain so.”

EU leaders are set to meet for an “informal retreat” outside Brussels on Feb. 3 for talks focused uniquely on security and defense for the first time. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is due to attend.

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