On Monday, 14 October, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha took part in online format in the meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council at the invitation of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister briefed his European colleagues on the situation on the battlefield and the priority military needs of Ukrainian defenders. He also highlighted russia’s constant shelling of Ukrainian cities and communities, critical civilian infrastructure and energy, and recent attacks on civilian vessels and port infrastructure.
“Recently, we have witnessed russia’s attacks on our ports and civilian vessels. With these actions, the russians are trying not only to weaken Ukraine’s economy, especially on the eve of winter, but also to undermine global food security": the Minister said and called for a joint decisive response to such actions by russia and the guarantee of freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
Andrii Sybiha emphasized the need to accelerate EU assistance to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence and energy resilience ahead of winter, including additional air defence systems and providing sky shield, additional power equipment, and investments in generation sources.
“We are grateful to the EU for its efforts to strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s energy system and meet our immediate energy needs. We are talking about both restoring and connecting additional sources and stabilizing the system. We appreciate the EU’s readiness to implement a number of additional steps that will meet part of our energy consumption needs this winter. We are also counting on the European Commission’s leadership role in engaging more partners in providing energy support to Ukraine,” the Minister said.
The Minister also thanked his European colleagues for supporting the European Commission’s proposals to use EUR 35 billion of macro-financial assistance and to create a credit mechanism to reimburse up to EUR 45 billion from frozen russian assets. He expressed hope that all the necessary decisions would be finalised in the coming weeks.
Andrii Sybiha reiterated his call for the lifting of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range capabilities against legitimate military targets in the territory of the russian federation, as well as his call for a decision to use the air defence capabilities of Ukraine’s neighbours to shoot down russian missiles and drones in Ukrainian sky.
“Ukraine is exercising its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Every time the russians are confronted with force, they retreat, putin retreats. But when they feel weak, they advance. We must show collective European strength if we want to push the russian threat away from Europe,” he said.
The Minister also denied the information spread by a number of foreign media about Ukraine’s alleged readiness to make unacceptable territorial concessions to the aggressor. He stressed that there is no alternative to the Peace Formula and the principle of “No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine”.
Andrii Sybiha informed his European colleagues about further work on promoting the Peace Formula on the way to the Second Peace Summit, and spoke in detail about how the Victory Plan presented by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy would become a tool for the practical implementation of the Peace Formula to achieve a common goal for Ukraine and the EU: a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.