Europe ratifies its support for Ukraine despite having to face this winter “the end of abundance”

However, the early optimism has begun to take on a more somber tone. If a few months ago it was mario draghi who warned of an unprecedented food crisis, is now the president of France, Emmanuel Macronwho has again given a wake-up call to all of Europe.

“I think we are witnessing a great upheaval, a radical change. Basically, what we are experiencing is the end of abundanceof free liquidity”, Macron assured at the opening of his first Council of Ministers after the holidays.

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In spite of everything, the United Nations Security Council marked the date of the six months of the war with a meeting in which the United States, France and the United Kingdom – three of the five permanent members – made it clear that their support for kyiv remains intact and will continue for as long as it takes.

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnsonmade a surprise visit to kyiv on Wednesday and met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyto celebrate the country’s independence day.

Johnson posted a photo with Zelenski on his official Twitter account and accompanied it with the following message: “What happens in Ukraine concerns us all. That is why I have come to kyiv today. That is why the United Kingdom will continue to support our Ukrainian friends. I believe that Ukraine can and will win this war.”.

Coinciding with his visit, Johnson announced the delivery to Ukraine of an additional package of 2,000 drones and tracking missiles valued at 54 million pounds (64 million euros). That aid “will allow Ukraine to track and target the invading Russian forces more effectively,” the British chief executive’s official office said in a statement.

US aid

For his part, the President of the United States (USA), Joe Biden, commemorated Ukraine’s Independence Day with a new military aid package valued at nearly $3 billionthe largest granted to date and which seeks to strengthen the country’s defense in the long term.

“The United States is committed to helping the people of Ukraine as they continue to fight to defend their sovereignty,” Trump said in a statement.

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Biden acknowledged that, this year, the celebration of Ukraine’s independence has a “bitter” taste for the thousands of Ukrainians who have been killed or wounded during the war, as well as the millions who have had to flee their homes and those who have been victims of Russian “atrocities”.

“But,” he stressed, “these six months of relentless attacks have only reinforced the strength of the Ukrainians and their pride in their country and its 31 years of independence.”

The package, with an exact value of 2,980 million, aims to help Ukraine strengthen its security in the medium and long term, the Department of Defense explained in a statement.

Unlike previous aids, these new funds seek to finance the manufacture of new weapons to deliver it to Ukraine in the future.

Previous shipments were aimed at meeting Ukraine’s immediate needs to deal with Russian troops and focused on shipping weapons and ammunition that the Pentagon already had in stockpiles. The new US aid will allow Ukraine to strengthen its security in the future and access more sophisticated weaponry.

Spanish aid

Spain has also announced that it will redouble military aid to Ukraine to coincide with the sixth month of war in the country and on the occasion of Independence Day and has prepared military material to make it available to the Ukrainian authorities immediately. This material includes an anti-missile battery, armored vehicles, more ammunition, basic training for Ukrainian forces in Spain and winter clothing and equipment.

This has been reported by the Ministry of Defense in a statement after this Wednesday the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, regretted that the last shipment of military weapons from Spain to Ukraine was in May and they could not get everything they had required.

“I cannot say that we are satisfied, or that we are receiving everything that Spain could provide,” said the ambassador, who, however, thanked the Spanish help.

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Defense has claimed that Spain “has always acted and will continue to do so in coordination with the countries of the Atlantic Alliance, the EU and with the Group of Donors”, made up of 45 countries.

The sending of this material is part of the “firm commitment” that has been developing since the beginning of this war by Spain that “has not stopped sending material for the legitimate defense of the Ukrainian people” that for security reasons and others that affect other countries the details have not been specified, the document collects.

a long winter

In addition to the international support and the aid offered, it must be taken into account that the energy crisis scenario that all of Europe is experiencing due to the Russian war in Ukraine has set off all the alerts for next autumn if Putin finally decides to close the gas tap to Germany. That is why the European Commission could force France to facilitate the construction of the Midcat gas pipeline, an unfinished trans-Pyrenean infrastructure that has been idle for three years.

“Here we are running into the French mentality of protecting what is theirs,” Steven Taylor, director of EKON Strategy Consulting, explained to EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia a few days ago. “But, if you want, you can build the pipeline pretty fastnot in 8 or 9 months as the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has said, but yes could be in about two years”. It would cost around 400 million euros and would bring annual capacity to 17 billion cubic meters of gas.

“France’s alternative to Midcat is to build regasification plants on its coast (it already has four), but the cost and term is practically the same as building the gas pipeline, the difference being that in this case, they would enter the gas market Gallic Spanish companies, and that’s what they don’t like”, added the expert.

Faced with this position, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, showed this Wednesday his “determination” to promote the project of energy interconnection of Spain with the EU through the Pyrenees, but warned that if France opposes, that interconnection will be through Italy.

In the press conference that he offered in Bogotá together with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, Sánchez recalled that since he became President of the Government, he had conveyed to the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the need to speed up interconnections.

Support at the UN

In addition to the three Western powers of the Security Council (USA, France and the United Kingdom), many other countries -especially European and traditional US allies such as Australia and Canada- wanted to stage their commitment at the UN on Wednesday by clothing the Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsyawhile reading a joint statement to the media outside the Security Council.

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inside the room, other member states were also heard defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and clearly denounce the Russian invasion, as was the case in Mexico, but above all many calls were heard to stop the war and the suffering of the civilian population.

Chinaas it has been doing since the beginning of the conflict, swam between two waters underlining the need to respect the independence and territorial integrity of all countries, but also validating the Russian thesis that the expansion of NATO is at the origin of the current war.