"It's not a matter of months - it's a matter of days and weeks": President of the European Council outlines deadlines after EU leaders' decision to strengthen Ukraine's air defense and accelerate military aid
Kyiv • UNN
The European Council strongly condemned Russia's air and missile attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, emphasized the urgent need to ensure Ukraine's air defense, and called for the accelerated and intensified provision of all necessary military assistance, including artillery ammunition and missiles.
The European Council emphasized the need to urgently ensure the air defense of Ukraine and called for the acceleration and intensification of the provision of all necessary military assistance, including artillery ammunition and missiles. Speaking about the timing, European Council President Charles Michel noted that "it is not a matter of months, it is a matter of days and weeks," UNN reports.
It is not a matter of months, it is a matter of days and weeks. It is very important that we fulfill our promises. And I can assure you that everyone... is doing everything possible to accelerate, to do more. In a very short period of time, we have increased our defense capabilities in terms of production and production capacity. But this is not enough. We need to do more and, if possible, make better use of the stockpiles that we have, especially in the area of air defense systems
In its conclusions following the first day of the meeting, the European Council strongly condemned "Russia's ongoing air and missile attacks against the civilian population and civilian and critical infrastructure in Ukraine, including recent intensified attacks on the energy sector." "The European Union and its member states are stepping up humanitarian and civil protection assistance, including equipment such as generators and power transformers," the EU leaders said.
The European Council stresses the need to urgently secure Ukraine's air defense and to accelerate and intensify the delivery of all necessary military assistance, including artillery ammunition and missiles
In the conclusions, the EU Council, in particular at its upcoming meeting, and the Member States are called upon to "ensure the necessary follow-up actions".
"The European Council welcomes the progress on proposals to channel the extraordinary proceeds from Russia's frozen assets to Ukraine and calls for their swift adoption," the EU leaders added.
"Military support will be provided with full respect for the security and defense policies of individual Member States and taking into account the security and defense interests of all Member States," the conclusions state.
After the meeting, the President of the European Council pointed out "two extremely important points.
"First of all, we don't need so many words, we need - they need - more military equipment. We had a very good discussion. We understood that member states, especially those with the capacity or capability, they understand that it is very important to provide more air defense systems, more ammunition," Michel said.
The second important issue regarding Ukraine, he said, was the Ukrainian "peace formula," especially on the eve of the peace conference to be held in Switzerland in June.
"This is good, and we want to cooperate with the international community, with all countries of the world, especially from the Global South, to coordinate points of view... We do not underestimate the challenges on the ground for Ukrainians, and we know that we have a responsibility to act," the President of the European Council emphasized.
