The bloc’s top diplomat said lethal aid will be delivered through Poland
The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has revealed that a 450 million Euro package of “lethal aid” for Ukraine will include fighter jets, with all weapons delivered through Poland. Borrell also said that around half of the Russian Central Bank’s reserves would be frozen.
Speaking hours after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the bloc would “finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment” for Ukraine, Borrell revealed that the EU’s “lethal aid” package would amount to 450 million euros ($501 million), with another 50 million euros ($55,744) going toward non-lethal aid, including fuel and medical supplies.
“Certainly, we are going to supply arms…we are even going to provide fighting jets,” Borrell told reporters. “We are not just talking about ammunition.”
Borrell added that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had requested fighter jets that Ukrainian pilots could operate, and that such jets could be procured from certain EU countries. The Ukrainian Air Force uses Soviet-designed MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-24, Su-25, and Su-27 jets in combat roles, and with the Su-25 used by Bulgaria and the MiG-29 used by Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia, the jets will likely be sourced from these countries.
Borrell said that military aid will be delivered to Ukraine via Poland, though he did not specify whether the jets would be flown into Ukraine or driven across the border.
The EU’s top diplomat also announced that financial sanctions would freeze “about half of the financial reserves of the Russian central bank.” Half of Russia’s reserves are in banks in G7 countries, Borrell stated, explaining that the EU can not block the other half located in Russia or elsewhere.
While individual EU nations, as well as the UK and US, have promised caches of military aid to Ukraine in recent days, the bloc’s move is an unprecedented one.
It comes four days into Russia’s military offensive on Ukraine, which was launched after months of negotiations with the west over Kiev’s aspirations of NATO membership failed. Russia has long considered the idea of Ukraine joining the alliance an unacceptable security risk, yet leaders in Kiev, Washington, and Brussels refused to rule out membership for Ukraine in the Cold War-era pact.
Delegations from Ukraine and Russia plan to meet in Belarus on Monday for tentative negotiations.
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Street fighting broke out early Sunday in Kharkiv as Russian troops pushed into Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to a regional official as the capital, Kiev, continued to hold out.
Beijing believes the West should address Moscow’s “legitimate security demands”
China said on Saturday that Western sanctions slapped on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine will not solve the crisis. Many countries have imposed sweeping restrictions on Moscow, hitting its banks, trade, and largest airline, among other things. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made his comments during a phone call with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang said “China doesn’t support the use of sanctions to solve problems, and even more so opposes unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law.”
“It’s been long proven that sanctions not only fail to solve [existing] problems, but create news ones, resulting ‘lose-lose’ effects on the economy and interfering in the process of political settlement,” he added.
The minister said China opposes both the use of force and sanctions regarding Ukraine. He argued that Russia’s “legitimate security demands” on NATO’s eastward expansion “should be properly addressed.” Moscow said it seeks legally binding assurances that NATO will never accept Ukraine as a member state and will pull its troops from Eastern Europe – demands that the US-led bloc rejects.
The US, Britain, EU member states, and several other countries imposed new sweeping sanctions on Moscow after it launched a military operation against Kiev on Thursday. Russia argued that the move was necessary to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which broke off from Ukraine after the 2014 coup in Kiev. Ukraine said the attack by Russia was entirely unprovoked.
Russia vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution condemning its operation in Ukraine on Friday, while China abstained from voting.
According to Berlin, during her phone call with Wang, Baerbock “stressed that China bears a special responsibility” for the events in Ukraine as a permanent member of the UN’s top decision-making body.
