The foreign ministers of the European Union met on Monday in Kiev for a “historic meeting” aimed at drawing the lines of “lasting support” for this country facing the Russian invasion and which aims to integrate the EU.
Faced with a slow Ukrainian counter-offensive and fears of a decline in Western support for Ukraine, it is also a question of showing Russia that it “must not count” on the “weariness” of the European Union, explained French Minister Catherine Colonna.
A message which was immediately contradicted by the Kremlin, convinced that this “weariness” will “increase in different countries”.
“I am summoning foreign ministers to Kiev today, the first meeting of all 27 member countries outside the EU,” announced EU foreign minister Josep Borrell on X (formerly Twitter), welcoming this “historic meeting” in Ukraine, “candidate country and future member”.
Mr. Borrell, however, clarified that it was an “informal” meeting which “is not intended to reach conclusions and concrete decisions.”
Receiving his counterparts, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba welcomed the meeting being held in kyiv, “within the future borders of the European Union”, according to him.
“The power of our warriors on the front line is largely the result of the power of our agreements with our friends and partners,” added President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram.
Ukraine has been aiming to join the EU for years and was granted candidate status for membership in June 2022, but to take the next step, Kiev must still make progress, particularly in the fight against anti Corruption.
“Winter protection”
Monday’s meeting in kyiv is an “exceptional diplomatic gesture”, underlined Mr.me Colonna, who explained that the EU wants to demonstrate its “resolute” and “lasting” support for Ukraine “until it can prevail” against Moscow.
It is about showing “that Ukraine is part of the European family” and “also giving Russia the message that it must not count on our weariness”, underlined Mr.me Colonna. “We will be here for a long time,” she promised.
The German Minister, Annalena Baerbock, requested the establishment of a “winter protection plan” to enable Ukraine to cope with bombings on its energy infrastructure, as during last year.
This meeting is being held at a time when fears are emerging about the sustainability of Western support for Ukraine, which depends on arms deliveries and financial aid from Europeans and the United States.
In Washington, an emergency agreement reached by the Senate this weekend to avoid a paralysis of the federal administration left aid to Ukraine out of the budget, which will have to be the subject of a separate project to vote.
US President Joe Biden then promised that the United States “would not abandon” Ukraine, and Kiev announced “working” with its main military and financial backer so that this situation “does not prevent the flow of ‘help “.
If the Kremlin estimated on Monday that Washington “will continue to get involved in this conflict”, it said it expected that “weariness of completely absurd support for the Kiev regime will increase in different countries”.
In Europe, Slovakia on Saturday elected a populist party that opposes continued aid to Ukraine. kyiv soberly said on Monday “to respect the choice of the Slovak people” and judged that it was too early to predict the consequences.
Furthermore, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs – whose country remains closest to Moscow in the EU – as well as his Polish and Latvian colleagues did not attend the meeting in Kiev, told AFP a senior Ukrainian government official on condition of anonymity. Polish and Latvian diplomats are ill, he added.
Another source of aid for Ukraine, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, the first in three years, visited Kiev to discuss a $15.6 billion program, the first announced Minister Denys Chmygal.
On the front, where Ukraine has been leading a difficult counter-offensive since June, the bombings continued on Monday. Four people were injured in Kherson and two others in Orikhiv, in the south, according to regional authorities.
Four Russian explosive drones were shot down overnight, according to the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian intelligence services, for their part, claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a missile production factory in Smolensk, Russia, more than 600 kilometers from the border.