Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on European leaders, whom he met in Brussels on Thursday 9 February, to send more weapons to his country and to adopt new sanctions against Russia.
In his speech, Mr Zelensky thanked the leaders for understanding “how much we need artillery, ammunition, modern tanks, modern fighter planes”. He welcomed their military support, but asked them to do more. EU and Member States’ military support to Ukraine already amounts to €12 billion.
“We have to move faster than our aggressor, who is mobilising more”, Mr Zelensky said. And while no European leader has publicly announced the sending of aircraft, the Ukrainian President explained that he had heard during the plenary session of the readiness to provide the necessary weapons, including aircraft.
After the plenary session, Mr Zelensky met with the leaders of the Member States – apart from the French President and the German Chancellor, whom he saw in Paris on Wednesday – in small groups, in order to obtain pledges to send weapons. “I just can’t go home without results”, he admitted.
“The next few weeks and months will probably be decisive and this is the time not to tremble, to be lucid and to deploy maximum support. (...) There are military needs to support you, to help you defend the integrity of Ukraine, ammunition, artillery, vehicles, defence systems, that's what it's all about now”, acknowledged the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
“It is very important that we accelerate military aid. We need to do more”, advocated the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the focus should be on sending the necessary equipment in the short term. “Deliveries that are useful for operations and resistance should be prioritised over commitments that will come very late or very far away. And so, we must look at what can be delivered in the short term, what corresponds to the needs that the Ukrainians have detailed”, he estimated.
In the conclusions they adopted, EU leaders expressed their support for Ukraine and said it would continue.
More sanctions
The Ukrainian president also called on the Europeans to adopt additional restrictive measures, particularly in the drone, IT and missile industries. He questioned the fact that nuclear energy is still not subject to EU sanctions. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the first outlines of the 10th package of sanctions against Russia, which she will propose “in the coming days”.
“Russia must pay for the destruction caused and the blood spilled”, she said. The package should thus include sanctions against a number of political and military leaders, but also against Putin’s propagandists. According to Ms von der Leyen, the package will include additional export bans worth more than €10 billion to further “starve” Russia’s military machine and continue to undermine the foundations of its economy.
For his part, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called for the adoption of new sanctions before 24 February, the anniversary of the Russian invasion. He supported adding to the sanctions list companies such as Rosatom and its board members, but also diamonds and banks that are not yet on the list.
Moving towards peace
The Ukrainian President also called for accountability. “Europe must be fair, we cannot live without justice, a tribunal must be set up to judge the crimes perpetrated by Russia, compensation mechanisms must be put in place, those responsible for this destruction must be held accountable”, he stressed, adding that justice would be part of the foundations of a peaceful Europe.
In a bilateral meeting, Mr Zelensky and Mr Michel discussed the need for the EU to coordinate its efforts to advance the work of President Zelensky’s peace plan. They emphasised the importance to work closely with international partners to ensure the widest possible support for the relevant UN General Assembly resolution and international participation in a future summit on the ‘Global Peace Formula’.
Mr Zelensky also pushed for the opening of accession negotiations for his country this year. “We need it this year. When I say this year, I mean this year, 2023”, he insisted.
At the EU/Ukraine summit on 3 February (see EUROPE 13114/1), the EU side had acknowledged Ukraine’s considerable progress in moving towards Europe. “We’ve all been enormously impressed about how the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people are doing everything they can to meet the test for membership”, said the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
Mr Michel warned that the European Council would not escape the responsibility of discussing the opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU at the end of the year, after the Commission’s report, while recalling that the decision would be taken unanimously. He said that “the EU is Ukraine, Ukraine is the EU, the EU is our common home, we are going to be mobilised to fulfil this promise”.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/5ai (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)