Borrell urges speeding up military deliveries to Ukraine

European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell today urged the Twenty-Seven to speed up the delivery of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, and hoped that they would soon lift Hungary’s blockade of a new disbursement of could solve 500 euros. million euros to co-finance armaments for Kiev.

“The success of the defense of Ukraine depends not only on the courage of its soldiers and its people, but also on the speed of delivery of weapons and ammunition,” Borrell said at a press conference at the end of a Foreign Council.

For this reason, he urged “continue, increase and expand” EU military support, including in the field of air defence, and assured that the work done to provide arms, ammunition and missiles so that Ukraine “give their territory and sovereignty” and claimed that any delay “is measured in human lives”.

Ukraine is expected to launch a counter-offensive against the occupying Russian forces soon.

Borrell celebrated that at their recent summit, the G7 had decided to “prepare the ground to provide Ukraine with the fighters it needs”, giving the green light to the training of Ukrainian pilots, and hoped that Kiev would “soon” could have F16 fighter jets. .

“There has been no debate about any type of weapon, let alone aircraft,” Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said at a news conference.

Regarding the mission launched by the EU in several member states to train Ukrainian soldiers, Borrell announced that 15,000 have already completed this training and he hopes many more will be there by the end of the year.

What ministers failed to promote today was the disbursement of a new EUR 500 million tranche from the European Peace Support Fund – EUR 3,600 million of which has already been allocated to Ukraine – to co-finance arms shipments to Kiev.

Hungary blocks that possibility as long as Ukraine keeps the largest Magyar bank, the OTP, on its list of international sponsors of the war.

Borrell called for dialogue on this issue at a multilateral level between member states or bilaterally between Hungary and Ukraine, and to “do everything possible to preserve this military aid package”.

Ministers also discussed today the EU’s next package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the 11th, aimed at punishing third-country companies that help Russian companies to evade European restrictive measures, in particular in the sale of dual-use, civilian and military items.

The G7’s decision to impose new sanctions in this sense will determine the work within the EU, which is currently meeting resistance from several Member States to the proposal to designate third countries whose companies are engaged in this behaviour.

The aim is to get this new package ready for the Summit of the Leaders of the Twenty-Seven to be held at the end of June, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said today.

Borrell was asked last week about his statements warning that buying Russian refined oil from India makes European sanctions less effective, and asked European governments to “take action” in this regard.

The head of community diplomacy today assured that he has not blamed the Indian government, recalling that European sanctions “are not extraterritorial”. In any case, he welcomed the fact that the restrictive Community measures force Russia to sell its oil cheaper to others.

Borrell drew attention to the extraordinary increase in European exports to Russia’s neighbors, such as those in Central Asia, and assured that it is not unreasonable to assume that European products could be re-exported to Russian territory, making it difficult for Moscow easier to circumvent European sanctions.

“In particular, we have looked at how to prevent sanctions circumvention more effectively and, of course, continue to look at sectors where we can prevent (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war effort from prolonging,” Albares said.

The foreign ministers of the Western Balkan countries also took part in a working lunch with the Europeans.

Borrell reminded those not aligned with the Community’s foreign policy, “not just Serbia”, that “maintaining close ties with Russia is not compatible with its EU accession process”.




Source: El heraldo

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