The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrellhas advanced that “work is being done” on a “high-level” meeting on peace in Ukraine that “probably” will be held during the High-Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September.
This new meeting will be held after the meeting that took place at the beginning of August in jeddah (Saudi Arabia), with the participation of “more than 40 countries”, including China, and which, according to Borrell, was “another step by Ukraine to get the international community to put pressure on Russia to stop the war” .
“Only Russia can stop it, Russia started it and Russia has to finish it», Borrell stated this Monday at a press conference that he offered at the Madeleine Palace de Santander on the occasion of the start of a new edition of the course What Vadis Europe? which is held within the Summer Courses of the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP). There he has insisted that the EU “will continue to support Ukraine.”
Borrell has also referred, to questions from journalists, about sending F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine once only a few days ago it became known that the United States had given the green light for Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
He has clarified that this shipment does not come as a result of an agreement with the European Union, but that “they are bilateral decisions from several countries that have formed a group to coordinate their action. On the other hand, he has said that what the EU will “certainly do” is, if the promoting countries request it, finance “part” of the cost.
Borrell has trusted that these planes can “be of support” to the country presided over by Volodimir Zelensky, although he has recognized that, “unfortunately”, the F-16 “will not be able to be used very soon” since the pilots must be trained first and that supposes a “long task”. “But the sooner you start, the better,” he stated.
He recalled that Ukraine had been demanding this air support “for a long time”. And it is that he has indicated that the country has the “handicap” of “not having air support and long-range missiles” which, in his opinion, “they would be very necessary» to prevent Russia from continuing to bomb Ukrainian cities without Zelensky’s country having the capacity to respond by these means.
The High Representative has once again accused Russia of carrying out “every day” drone attacks on Ukrainian territory “searching for civilian targets», lamenting the «deadly» attacks in recent days directed against the Ukrainian population and civilian infrastructure, such as ports.
Regarding the situation at the front, Borrell explained that the lines are “rather static, with small gains of terrain on one side or the other” and stressed that the fact that the terrain is “highly mined makes it very difficult to frontal offensive». Although the entire front is “active”, he has pointed out that there has been no clear front break in any position.
