On Monday 11 May, EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas, said that the dynamics of the war in Ukraine were changing, adding that “the overall understanding is that Putin is in a weaker position than he has ever been before”.
“The €90 billion loan, Moscow’s record battlefield losses, Ukraine’s deep strikes into Russia, and Moscow’s shrinking military parade show that the dynamics of the war are changing. Ukraine is in a much better position than a year ago, but of course there is no time for complacency”, she stressed at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council.
Ms Kallas announced that ministers had adopted a strengthened mandate for the European Union Advisory Mission to Ukraine (EUAM). “This will allow our mission to step up against hybrid threats and support the reintegration of veterans”, she explained.
And while, earlier in the morning, the Ukrainian minister, Andrii Sybiha, had called on the EU to play a “new role”, a “complementary path” to the negotiations under the aegis of the United States, Ms Kallas felt that for Europe to play a more active role, it was necessary to agree on the subjects to be discussed with Russia and to define the red lines. This will be done at the Gymnich in late May (see EUROPE 13860/10).
See the legal document related to the EUAM decision: https://aeur.eu/f/lvb (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)