Ukraine’s allies will gather around British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, October 24, to discuss long-range weapons deliveries to kyiv, after a first EU step towards using frozen Russian assets.
This meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, made up of 26 mainly European countries, is scheduled for the afternoon in the presence of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Keir Starmer, who co-leads this group together with French President Emmanuel Macron, should ask to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position as winter approaches,” according to a statement from his services.
The country, the target of an offensive by Moscow since February 2022, has been the target in recent weeks of more Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure, which threaten to deprive Ukrainians of light and heat as winter approaches.
Long-range weapons donations
Keir Starmer should therefore ask for greater donations of “long-range weapons to kyiv” to strengthen his position.
Ukraine produces certain missiles of this type (Flamingo, Neptune) and receives French Scalps and British Storm Shadows from Europeans, but in small quantities.
He requested, without success, German Taurus missiles. And so far the Americans have refused to deliver the Tomahawk missiles that Zelensky was hoping for. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such a handover would constitute “a new escalation.”
Use of Russian assets
To finance this donation of “long-range systems” to Ukraine and Ukrainian defense, Starmer must ask his partners to “finish the job” regarding the use of frozen Russian assets, according to Downing Street.
In this area, European leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday took a cautious first step, asking the Commission to explore ways to finance Ukraine over the next two years, leaving the door open to the creation of a loan that would leverage these assets.
Immobilized due to Western sanctions, they represent some 210 billion euros.
This minimal proposal will appear on the agenda of the next European summit in December, de facto postponing the most difficult arbitrations, and is deliberately formulated in vague terms to take into account the reservations of Belgium, where most of the funds are located. According to a diplomat, several other countries have also expressed reservations.
The outright seizure of these assets is a red line for EU countries, but the Commission proposes, thanks to the latter, to finance a loan of 140 billion euros to kyiv.
“This solution raises legal questions, questions of risk sharing,” acknowledged French President Emmanuel Macron, stressing that it remains the most promising avenue to help Ukraine financially in the coming years.
Volodymyr Zelensky, present in Brussels for part of the discussions, urged the leaders to take the step. In the afternoon, Day X praised the “good results” of this summit, affirming, in an optimistic tone, having obtained “political support” on this issue.
Sanctions
Earlier in the day, European leaders and Zelensky had also welcomed the decision of the United States, exasperated by Vladimir Putin’s attitude, to impose sanctions against Moscow in turn. The American president had refused for many months to impose these sanctions, but considered that his talks with his Russian counterpart were leading “nowhere.”
The sanctions involve freezing all assets of Rosneft and Lukoil in the United States, as well as banning all American companies from doing business with the two Russian oil giants.
Russia denounced the US sanctions as “counterproductive”, and its president Vladimir Putin considered that they would not have a “significant impact” on his country’s economy.
The Europeans also targeted the Russian oil sector by announcing a new set of sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday 19 from February 2022.
It provides for a complete cessation of imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of 2026 and additional measures against the ghost fleet of oil tankers that Moscow uses to evade Western sanctions.
Source: BFM TV
