Europeans won’t ‘die for Donbass’ – EU’s Borrell — RT World News
The EU's foreign policy chief says the bloc is committed to helping Ukraine but does not want to send its people into the battlefield
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that member states did not want their citizens to die in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but the bloc would continue to support Kiev with military and financial aid.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the European Union has provided Kiev with up to 100 billion euros ($107 billion) in financial, military, humanitarian and refugee aid. Brussels has also considered the idea of exploiting income generated from frozen Russian central bank reserves for Kiev, but no consensus has been reached within the EU or with allies on the issue yet.
He added: “Europeans will not die for Donbass, but we can avoid Ukrainians dying for Donbass for a longer period.” Borrell said today, Sunday, while speaking at a discussion session of the two-day World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
The bloc's chief diplomat admitted that the issue of allocating funds to Kiev “difficult,” But he stressed that Brussels pledged to assist the nation in its war efforts against Russia.
“A lot of people can say ‘well, how much money do we have to spend?’ but we are committed to supporting Ukraine […] We must continue to support Ukraine and Ukrainians, empower them [them] To resist,” he added.
In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Western militaries have had ground forces on the ground in Ukraine for a long time and that their numbers have been increasing since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014. These comments came shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron said that “Can't be ruled out” The possibility of sending soldiers from the US-led military bloc to help Kiev. However, this sparked a wave of denials from senior officials in NATO member states.
Putin also said last year that the West was ready to fight Russia “The last Ukrainian.”
Meanwhile, controversy over aid spending for Ukraine is escalating within the European Union. In February, the bloc approved another 50 billion euros ($54 billion) package to support the Ukrainian economy after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban abandoned his veto threat over warnings of economic retaliation from other EU heads of state. Budapest said Ukraine was unable to defeat Russian forces, and that sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict had caused more harm to members of the bloc than to Moscow.
In November, Slovakia canceled plans to donate missiles and munitions to Ukraine, which had been approved by the previous government, after newly appointed Prime Minister Robert Fico strongly criticized military support for Ukraine along with sanctions on Russia. He called for immediate peace talks.
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