EU foreign affairs ministers gave their political agreement on Monday 23 January to the payment of a seventh tranche of €500 million from the European Peace Facility (EPF) and financial assistance of €45 million, again via the EPF, for the training of Ukrainian soldiers as part of the EU’s EUMAM mission.
With this support, EU assistance to Ukraine through the EFP now amounts to €3.6 billion.
“2023 has not seen a break in the fighting. The military situation is evolving, but stability on the front line should not be confused with operational calm. On the contrary, very violent fights are taking place. The fighting is fierce. There are many victims”, recalled the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, stressing once again that the EU would continue to support Ukraine “in the best possible way”.
On their arrival at the Council, many ministers stressed the importance of continued European support for Ukraine, including military support. “Russia must lose the war. It is imperative to send all the necessary military equipment”, stressed Gabrielius Landsbergis from Lithuania. He said the Europeans must “defeat the fear of defeating Russia”, adopt all necessary sanctions and send additional military assistance.
Germany’s objections to sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine were mentioned. The day before, on French television, German minister Annalena Baerbock had said that if Poland delivered such tanks to Ukraine, Germany would not object.
But on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman said that while the federal government had not ruled out the delivery of Leopard tanks, it had not yet decided whether it would do so now.
On Saturday, the foreign ministers of the three Baltic states called on Berlin to provide Leopard tanks “now”. “The need is for 300 tanks and only Leopards are available in such large numbers in Europe”, Luxembourg minister Jean Asselborn told AFP, saying that the German Chancellor bore a great responsibility.
“I hope that we will not be in some purgatorial ambivalence about this decision, which is in the air, but we will have to act immediately. Remember, last spring and summer, the question of whether to give Western artillery to Ukraine. Hesitation could turn into an escalation of developments in the war”, warned Estonian minister Urmas Reinsalu, adding that long-range missiles and additional air defence systems were also needed. This “must be done immediately, because the Russians are preparing for a full-scale counter-offensive”, he warned.
The French minister, Catherine Colonna, also confirmed that the focus should not be on the tanks. “Ukraine needs air defence, ammunition, maintenance. And we have to help Ukraine, focus on the needs on the ground”, she explained.
Speaking to the media, the High Representative of the Union said he believed that the tanks should be supplied to the Ukrainian army, but added that it was a decision for the Member States. He also recalled the important decisions in terms of new military support - in equipment and financial - at the NATO-led Ramstein meeting on Friday 20 January. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)