On Monday 13 July, at their Council of the EU meeting, the European foreign ministers discussed strengthening support for Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been targeted by Russian strikes.
“Next winter, Russia is likely to strike Ukrainian power grid again, so we are preparing. Ukraine needs generators, spare parts and funding for repairs”, the High Representative of the Union, Kaja Kallas, summed up after the EU Council.
“Russia has already destroyed four fifths of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity. We are in July, which means winter is fast approaching”, noted the Polish minister, Radosław Sikorski. For him, it is urgent to provide Ukraine with funds to rebuild its thermal power plants and create decentralised sources of electricity generation.
“Russia will undoubtedly try to take advantage of the cold to break Ukraine’s will to resist”, added the Lithuanian minister, Kęstutis Budrys. He encouraged all countries to identify older equipment – whether old or less frequently used – and to use the transport mechanisms offered by the European Union so that it reaches Ukraine as quickly as possible.
“Lithuania ranks first in the world in terms of production capacity and third in terms of transformers. It has provided Ukraine with everything it needed and intends to continue its efforts”, he warned.
“Energy security may be one of the most important areas in which Ukraine wants and needs support for the coming winter”, confirmed the Bulgarian minister, Velislava Petrova-Chamova, explaining that her country, “a major gas transit country”, could still strengthen its support for Ukraine on this point. She referred to “concrete possibilities for additional gas contributions to help Ukraine next winter”.
Alongside the meeting of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, held in Paris, and following the NATO Summit (see EUROPE 13905/1), the ministers also came back on aid for Kyiv’s air defence. While welcoming the US decision to grant a Patriot licence to Ukraine, Ms Kallas called on Member States with stocks to make them available to Ukraine.
“Putin is terrorising Kyiv because Ukraine does not have enough missiles to intercept Russian ballistic missiles. Urgent appeals are being made to anyone who has such missiles, preferably those nearing the end of their service life, to transfer them to Ukraine without delay”, the Polish minister added, recalling that “moving from licensing to production always takes time, and Ukraine needs them immediately”.
In Paris, the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom announced the creation of a purely defensive Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, expressing their support for this “Flagship Project to work at pace to develop an Anti-Ballistic capability”, which will complement existing ballistic missile defence systems.
To see the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/mvc
Support for Ukrainians held in Russian prisons. In addition, in a statement on behalf of the EU, the EU27 called on Russia and Belarus to guarantee the “immediate, safe and unconditional” return to Ukraine of all Ukrainian civilians, including children, arbitrarily detained, illegally expelled and forcibly transferred. According to Ms Kallas, there are thousands of them being held illegally in Russian prisons, including in illegally occupied Ukrainian territories.
“We strongly condemn Russia’s systematic refusal to confirm the identity, location, and fate of Ukrainians held in captivity or reported missing, in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and call upon all States to intensify coordinated pressure on Russia to fulfil these obligations without further delay”, the Europeans added.
Speaking to the media, the High Representative of the Union announced that the ministers had adopted sanctions targeting the Russian prison system (see EUROPE 13908/1) and had pledged to strengthen their support for NGOs helping victims and their families. “We also launched a new informal group to coordinate international action for their release”, Ms Kallas announced.
To see the statement on civilians detained in Russia: https://aeur.eu/f/mv5 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)