You will have the opportunity to see first-hand the tense situation on the Donbass “line of contact”, the boundary that separates Ukrainian troops from armed pro-Russian separatists.
The High Representative for Foreign Policy and Defense of the European Union, Josep Borrell, arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for a two-day visit to send a message to Moscow that the Ukrainian leaders are not alone. Before meeting the authorities in Kiev, Borrell will have the opportunity on Wednesday to observe first-hand the situation of tension in the Donbass “line of contact”, the boundary that separates the Ukrainian troops from the pro-Russian armed separatists of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Coinciding with his arrival in Ukraine, the head of European Diplomacy has granted an interview to the Polish Press Agency (Polska Agencja Prasowa, PAP), in which he aligns himself with the position of the American president, Joe Biden, warning that a eventual Russian military intervention on Ukrainian soil “will have serious consequences.” In his words, “Ukraine, like any other country in the world, has the right and is free to choose its partners and its political or security alliances. No one will decide things related to Ukraine without Ukraine. ‘
“We continue in close coordination and consultation with our transatlantic partners (…) as this situation represents a threat to stability and security not only in Ukraine but in the entire region,” Borrell said in his replies. In this regard, he stated that “Ukraine is one of the EU’s closest neighbors and its strategic partner. Therefore, the security of Ukraine and the region cannot be discussed without all the important actors at the negotiating table, the European Union cannot be a neutral bystander in these negotiations if Russia really wants to discuss the European security architecture.
Moscow presented on December 17 the “security guarantees” that it demands from the West to reduce tensions with Ukraine, which they do not want to see integrated into NATO. But, according to the European High Representative, “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected and defended. That is why I am going there now, on my first visit outside the EU in 2022 ”and the third since taking the post invited by his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba.
Before starting the trip, Borrell spoke with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, about the meeting of the Alliance and Russia on January 12 in Brussels and the one that will be held before, next Friday, telematically the ministers of Foreign of the Atlantic bloc to agree on the position before Moscow.
On the other hand, the head of European Diplomacy said that “the EU has provided Ukraine with an unprecedented amount of aid worth 17 billion euros as of 2014.” In his words, Brussels “is ready to continue providing other types of financial support, such as, for example, the aid package of 31 million euros already approved to strengthen its armed forces, in particular its capabilities in cyber defense.”
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