The Foreign Affairs Council discussed the Russian aggression against Ukraine, after an intervention by Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba who joined EU Foreign Ministers in person.

He briefed EU ministers on the latest developments on the ground, and highlighted how Ukraine is currently committed on two fronts: the military front – as Putin tries to create a new momentum in his war ahead of winter and to promote his presidential candidature – and its EU accession path.

High Representative Josep Borrell confirmed that he had already launched the dialogue and expert consultations with Ukraine on future security commitments, underlining the need for the EU not only to provide operational military support to Ukraine, but also to work on a predictable long-term funding.

“An overwhelming majority of ministers was very clear: this is not the moment to weaken our support to Ukraine, on the contrary this is the moment to increase and speed it up.

“For doing that, we need to remain united. We need to strengthen our defence industry, to help Ukraine boost their own defence industry. We need to agree on the 8th EPF package and a new EPF top-up of 5bn EUR.

Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

The European Council is expected to give guidance on security commitments at its December meeting.

The High Representative informed the Council about the work carried out together with the European Commission on revenues coming from Russian immobilised assets. Proposals will be submitted in the coming days to the Council.

Read also: Russia Sanctions: UK announces new unit to clamp down on companies evading sanctions

———————————————————————————————————————————–