In another apparent sign of the EU admitting it is fueling the Ukrainian conflict, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has reiterated that the standoff will end if the West stops providing Kiev with weapons.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue defense meeting in Singapore on Saturday, Borrell argued that he “knows how to finish the war in Ukraine.”
“It’s quite easy. We stop supporting militarily Ukraine and the war will finish in a couple of weeks,” he said. At the same time, the EU foreign policy chief acknowledged that Brussels cannot halt military aid to Ukraine because “we don't want the peace which is […] the peace of the surrender.”
The remarks came a few weeks after Borrell told a Spanish broadcaster that he is in the know how to end the conflict in Ukraine “immediately.”
“I stop providing military assistance to Ukraine, and Ukraine has to surrender in a few days. That's it, the war is over,” he argued.
This followed Borrell arguing that Russia will not negotiate with Ukraine until Moscow prevails in the conflict.
The claims were preceded by the European Council agreeing on a further €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in military support for Ukraine that will include “155-mm-calibre artillery rounds and, if requested, missiles which will be jointly procured by EU member states from the European defense industry.”
The US and its NATO allies ramped up their military aid to Kiev shortly after Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly warned countries that send weapons to Ukraine that it sees these military shipments as legitimate targets and that such deliveries would add to escalating the Ukraine conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that providing Kiev with arms is tantamount to direct involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in turn stated that Zelensky’s previous remarks that there will be no Minsk-3 negotiating format "absolutely confirm" Kiev’s unwillingness to conduct peace talks with Moscow.
Moscow launched a special military operation in Ukraine to “protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years,” according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He stressed that the special operation aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine as well as bring to justice all war criminals who are responsible for "bloody crimes against civilians" in Donbass.