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“Putin’s nuclear threat will not weaken our military support for Ukraine”

"Putin's nuclear threat will not weaken our military support for Ukraine"

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In an emergency meeting held this morning in New York, the foreign ministers of the Twenty-seven agreed increase arms supply to Ukraine and strengthen economic sanctions against Moscow. This is the European Union response to Vladimir Putin’s speech in which he announced the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine and the calling of illegal referendums to annex the territories occupied by Russia in the east of the neighboring country.

The head of community diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, has assured that the EU will not take any steps back despite the Russian president’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if someone tries to thwart his plans. “It is clear that Putin is trying to destroy Ukraine. He is trying to destroy the whole country by different means as he is failing militarilyBorrell said at the end of the meeting.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy is particularly concerned that the Russian president threatens “again and again – and this time, very clearly, quite directly – with weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons”. “We find it quite cynical and shocking to hear such threats during the week in which here, at the United Nations, the world community works together to build peace and progress”, he denounced.

[La OTAN avisa a Putin de “consecuencias sin precedentes” si usa armas nucleares en Ucrania]

“These threats endanger international peace and security on an unprecedented scale. But they won’t shake our resolve. They will not weaken our resolve, our unity in support of Ukraine and our full support for Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, All the time neededBorrell says.

For all these reasons, the EU foreign ministers have adopted in New York the “political decision” to “continue to supply arms to Ukraine”. “We will continue to support their military capabilities in order for Ukrainians to defend their land, their territory, their sovereignty.” This will be done both with the community budget of the European Peace Facility (of which 2,500 million euros have already been released so far) and with national funds from the Member States.

[La UE ve “desesperación” en el anuncio de Putin y apoyará a Ucrania pese a su amenaza nuclear]

“I want to underline, in particular, one important element. In line with the UN Charter and international law, Ukraine is exercising its legitimate right to defend itself against Russian aggression, to regain full control of its territory, and has the right to liberate occupied territories within its internationally recognized borders. And that is why we will continue to support the Ukrainian efforts with the supply of military material, as long as it is necessary,” says Borrell.

In parallel, Brussels will accelerate the adoption of a new package of sanctions against Moscow, which will be the eighth since the outbreak of the war. Before Putin announced the illegal referendums in the occupied territories and the partial mobilization, the focus of the new package was going to be the application in the EU of the Maximum price for Russian oil decided at the G7. But the Russian president’s speech forces further action.

“We are going to study a new package of sanctions that will affect new areas of the Russian economy, especially (if I can be a bit more specific) the technological ones. And there will be a new list of sanctioned people,” said Borrell, who did not want to give more details.

“We are prepared to impose additional economic costs on Russia and on individuals and entities inside and outside Russia that support it, politically or economically. Furthermore, We are going to propose extra controls on the export of civil technology.l, since Russia has imposed a total war economy”, explained the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyenin an interview with .

The High Representative is convinced that there will be a quick unanimous agreement among the Twenty-seven, despite the fact that Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has already said that it does not want more sanctions.

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