European leaders pledged this Thursday to “strongly and fully support Ukraine”, including through “economic and financial support”, but also “military support”, for “as long as necessary”. The leaders admit to sending missiles as “as requested”.
The 27 applauded the agreement reached at the ministerial level “to urgently supply Ukraine with ground-to-surface and artillery munitions and, if requested, missiles”.
The agreement provides for a joint procurement and “mobilization of funding, in particular through the European Peace Mechanism, with the aim of delivering 1 million artillery shells, in a joint effort over the next 12 months”.
Zelensky spoke of prolonged war
Speaking from Ukraine, connected by videoconference and during the train journey back to Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after a trip to the frontline, stressed the possibility of the war being “prolonged”, requesting the sending of long-range missiles and fighter jets.
According to European sources, the Ukrainian president thanked the military support Ukraine has received since the start of the war and even called for sanctions to be tightened.
Guterres speaks of “perfect storm”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in Brussels that the world is facing “a perfect storm” given the “combination of multiple factors” that has led to “a dramatic situation”.
And in “many developing countries” there is even a decline in sustainable development patterns. “More hunger, more poverty, less education, less health services in so many parts of the world. And it is clear that our international financial system is not designed to meet such a huge challenge. And we depend heavily on the European Union to lead the transformations needed to get the 2030 agenda back on track,” Guterres defended.
In the debate with European leaders, António Guterres took a message about the impact of sanctions on fertilizer exports.
The possibility of adapting sanctions to allow fertilizer exports was an idea championed by António Costa. The idea is defended by most members of the European Council.
But there is a group led by Poland and the Baltic countries who believe that the media’s relief would be a mistake that would show weakness in the face of those who understand only strength, as is the case with Putin.
Critics of Costa and Guterres’ plan
Slovenian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas believes that easing fertilizer sanctions is the wrong strategy. Kallas says the global sustainability argument meets the Kremlin’s narrative and challenges the argument put forth in Brussels by António Guterres.
“There are no limits on fertilizer exports from Russian ports,” says Kaja Kallas, pointing out that “they can use 18 ports.” In addition, they have “300 banks, and only 13 have been sanctioned”.
“It is a Russian story to obtain something that will weaken the sanctions,” he criticizes, as “it is a wrong measure, because the aggressor only hears and understands the force.” [e] If we ease the sanctions, we will go after your story and we shouldn’t.”
The President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausedas, also confirms that there is no reason to relax sanctions that mainly serve a purpose.
“These sanctions were imposed so that the two regimes would henceforth feel certain consequences for their actions and especially for the war in Ukraine,” he recalled.
“Of course, in the case of Belarus, we are also talking about other things,” he stressed, referring to the cases of “downing of a plane and illegal migrations”.
“And, please tell me, what happened that is positive so that the sanctions can be relaxed? Nothing!” emphasized Nausedas.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki even admits that sanctions have been increased, including for fertilizer exports.
“We emphasize the very unfortunate role of Belarus in the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, of course, we emphasize the fact that the Lukashenko regime has imprisoned more than 1,000 political prisoners, including many Poles active in Belarus,” said Morawiecki and left a warning: “If this continues, we will tighten our sanctions against Belarus and prevent the export of products from Belarus.”
Asked by DN/TSF about expectations regarding António Guterres’ contribution to the discussion on European sanctions, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that Brussels should not show any weakness in the face of the actions of Minsk and Moscow.
“We need to step up our efforts to help Ukraine and I think it is very important to discuss this issue with Secretary General Guterres because we need international support,” he stressed, stressing that “the war in Ukraine is not is only about Ukraine. Indeed. , it is about the whole international rules-based order”.
“If we don’t send a clear signal, a clear message that these actions by Russia are unacceptable, then we will also lose the rules-based international order,” stressed Sanna Marin, who joins critics of the relaxation of Russian and EU fertilizer sanctions . Belarus.
Source: DN
