At the European Council on 18 and 19 June, European leaders are expected to strongly condemn the recent escalation of violence by Russia in Ukraine, and its “increasingly aggressive and reckless behaviour towards EU Member States and hostile rhetoric against EU diplomats”. The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, has made barely veiled death threats against the European diplomats in Ukraine (see EUROPE 13874/24).
According to a draft of the summit conclusions, dated 1 June and obtained by Agence Europe, the leaders are expected to stress that the incident on 29 May in which a Russian drone carrying explosives crashed into a building in Romania, and other similar incidents in other Member States, resulted from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and threatened the security of EU citizens and regional stability (see EUROPE 13878/20, 13874/23).
A few days after foreign ministers discussed the EU’s role in the peace negotiations (see EUROPE 13876/14), the European Council is expected to clarify the EU’s intention to step up its engagement in these negotiations, urging Russia to accept a full, unconditional and immediate ceasefire and to enter into constructive negotiations with a view to a just and lasting peace. The European Council could warn that the EU remains determined to increase pressure on Moscow so that Russia ends its war of aggression and engages in constructive negotiations with a view to peace.
As usual, the leaders are expected to reiterate the EU’s commitment to continuing its support for Ukraine, including military support, and to call for the urgent acceleration of the production and delivery of priority equipment, in particular air defence systems, ammunition, drones and missiles.
The conclusions are expected to return to the process of Ukraine’s accession to the Union, but the text has not yet been drafted, because of the ongoing talks between Ukraine and Hungary, which, if an agreement is reached, could allow the Hungarian veto on opening the first cluster of accession negotiation chapters to be lifted.
See the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/m53 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)