The European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, said Monday that the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city of Kherson is a «turning point» in the war in Ukraine and insisted that it will be up to Kiev to decide when it enters into peace negotiations with Moscow, after stressing that the EU is still considering new sanctions against Moscow.
«The Russian army is withdrawing. This is very good news for Ukrainians and shows that the strategy of supporting Ukraine militarily should continue. It is important to see what will happen the next few days after the withdrawal of the Russian Army across the (Dnieper) river. Abandoning Kherson and not being willing to defend their positions because they could have had a big defeat, is a turning point in the war,» the head of European diplomacy assessed upon his arrival at the meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The meeting in Brussels will be dominated by the situation in Ukraine and will be attended by the Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba via videoconference, at a time when the European partners are looking ahead to 2023 with the idea of guaranteeing funds and support to Kiev, including the imminent launch of the military training mission for the Ukrainian army, which the High Representative said will be operational within two weeks.
After news has circulated in recent weeks that the United States has asked the Ukrainian authorities not to close the door to negotiations with Russia, Borrell has insisted that Ukraine will be the one to «decide what to do.» «Our duty is to support them,» he concluded.
In the same line, the Finnish Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, said that «the time of the negotiations is something that Ukraine has to define», pointing out that first Kiev has some objectives to recover territories occupied by Russian troops. «The final agreements between Ukraine and Russia can be made when Russia withdraws from the areas that have been occupied,» he said.
LITHUANIA CRITICIZES LACK OF PROGRESS TO SANCTION RUSSIA On the option of applying new rounds of sanctions, the High Representative has exposed that the European institutions are already working on new measures and the procedures are underway. «Rest assured that we will not stop,» he said after minutes earlier Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landbergis had lamented the lack of appetite to move forward with the ninth package of sanctions proposed by the Baltic countries and Poland.
«We are waiting for the ninth package. We have offered a large number of lists (of sanctioned) weeks ago and we are waiting for the response of the institutions in Europe, to react and go ahead with the ninth package of sanctions,» Landbergis said before the meeting.
For his part, Haavisto indicated that Finland has proposals for sanctions on visas and energy, although he acknowledged that these issues are still awaiting the necessary consensus among European governments. «That is why it is important to discuss the situation in Ukraine again today,» he stressed.
«There is determination to keep up the pressure against Russia for its military aggression in Ukraine,» said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, while his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu expressed support for more sanctions against Moscow.
