Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called core cabinet figures to crisis talks on Thursday morning, just hours before an emergency summit of European Union leaders takes place in Brussels following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
De Croo's key lieutenants were to take a debriefing at a NATO ambassador's breakfast meeting after international media reports of shelling and civilians fleeing, with activity no longer only in rebel Russian-backed eastern Ukrainian territories.
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The Belgian premier was in contact first thing with EU counterparts, Belga News Agency reported, notably with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, where Belgian F-16 aircraft are stationed under NATO's military policing of the Baltic skies to Russia's west.
De Croo is due to take questions from MPs in the Belgian Federal Parliament in the afternoon, before the gathering of the 27 EU Member States' leaders gets underway officially at 20:00 in the bloc's Schuman roundabout headquarters.
