(Kiev) The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for a visit to show EU support for the authorities in Kiev, at the height of tension with neighboring Russia.
For several weeks, Moscow has been accused of having massed troops on the eastern border of Ukraine with a view to a potential offensive. Russia has denied any belligerent inclination and denounced NATO’s “provocations”.
“In the face of Russia’s military build-up, I am here to show the EU’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Josep Borrell said on Twitter.
Mr Borrell, accompanied by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba, will first travel to the east of the country, on the line of contact with pro-Russian separatists, with whom Kiev has been at war since 2014.
This conflict, which erupted after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Josep Borrell will then go to Kiev to meet other Ukrainian officials. The trip “underlines the EU’s strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at a time when the country faces military build-up and hybrid actions from Russia,” the European Commission said on Monday. .
“Aggressive actions by Russia”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the visit “aims to confirm EU support against a backdrop of aggressive Russian actions.”
Mr. Borrell will also discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart the means of “dissuading Russia from further aggression, including through economic sanctions”, according to Kiev.
It will be the first visit by a European foreign minister to the front line since the start of the war in eastern Ukraine.
Diplomatic efforts to defuse the Ukrainian crisis have intensified in recent weeks, including a meeting between Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and American Presidents Joe Biden at the end of December.
Talks between Russia and the United States are due to take place on Ukraine on January 9 and 10 in Geneva (Switzerland), followed on January 12 by a Russia-NATO meeting, then on January 13 by a meeting in the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The EU is worried about being sidelined in these talks, and Josep Borrell has repeatedly insisted that “any discussion on European security be held in coordination and with the participation of the EU”.