Meeting in a ‘Quint+’ video conference at the initiative of US President Joe Biden, the leaders of the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, and the NATO Secretary General reaffirmed, on Tuesday 19 April, their commitment to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion as the Russian army returned to the offensive in the Donbass.
At the end of the hour-long meeting, a French source at the Élysée reported a “very great consensus” among participants on the following points: - support Ukraine “in every way possible, military, political and economic”, without going directly to war against Moscow, notably through the installation of a no-fly zone in Ukraine; - consider “new sanctions, if Russia persists in the war”, with all sanctions adopted to be lifted only in the framework of an agreement satisfactory to the Ukrainian side; - convince third country partners that this crisis is not just about the West, but threatens world peace; - support the countries most affected by the war, especially those suffering from food insecurity; - respect international law and the integrity of Ukraine within its borders which include the Donbass and Crimea.
The source, who is close to French President Emmanuel Macron, pointed to the need for third countries such as China, whose reserve indirectly supports Russia, to “clearly establish the responsibilities”, of Moscow in the unprovoked aggression it unleashed, which flouts international law. “There is still a lot of persuading to be done, in spite of the difficulties”, the source admitted.
“The Russian invasion of Russia is a clear breach of international law” and the death of thousands of civilians are “war crimes for which the Russian president bears responsibility”, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the video conference, according toAFP.
The meeting also allowed participants to discuss security guarantees that partner countries - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy - could provide to Ukraine once a ceasefire has been declared and as part of a comprehensive international agreement. These guarantees would be closer to the clause in the European Treaty than to the automatic assistance mechanism involving the Allies in NATO. They should avoid the parties falling back into the trap of the Minsk agreements, which failed to establish a lasting peace.
Before the video conference, Ukraine asked the G7 countries for $50 billion in aid to help finance the war effort.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman has been in Brussels since Monday and will be there until the end of the week to continue discussions with Allies and European partners on the response to the war in Ukraine.
Since Monday evening, Russia has gone on the offensive to conquer the entire Donbass region, after having bombed several cities throughout Ukraine over the weekend. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, condemned “the continued indiscriminate and unlawful shelling of civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Russian armed forces”. He recalled the EU’s support for the work of the International Criminal Court to ensure that human rights violations and “war crimes” do not go unpunished. The mandate of the EU advisory mission EUAM Ukraine was recently amended to this end.
On Tuesday, the European Commission said the Europeans were working on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, following the adoption in early April of the fifth set of restrictive measures agreed since the outbreak of war at the end of February, including an embargo on Russian coal and a ban on road and sea traffic between the EU and Russia (see EUROPE 12929/1).
“We continue to work on sanctions and, when the time is right, we will announce them”, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS). Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the German press at the weekend that the EU was working on mechanisms to include Russian oil in the sixth sanctions package (see EUROPE 12934/2).
Enlargement. On Monday, the EU institution’s spokesman Eric Mamer confirmed that the Commission had already received the first part - on economic and political criteria - of the questionnaire sent to Kyiv as part of its application to join the EU (see EUROPE 12929/2). After receiving the replies to the second part of the questionnaire on the adoption of the acquis communautaire, the Commission will draw up its opinion on Ukraine’s state of preparedness for EU membership “with due diligence”, which will be sent to the European Council, he added, although he refused to set a timetable. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)