BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Western nations gathering in Brussels on Thursday to take “serious steps” to help Kyiv fight Russia’s invasion, as an unprecedented one-day trio of NATO, G7 and EU summits got underway.
The hectic day of summitry, aimed at maintaining Western unity, kicks off at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where the transatlantic defence alliance’s leaders will agree to ramp up military forces on Europe’s eastern flank.
But, while leaders promised to step up support for Ukraine, EU diplomats played down expectations of major new sanctions on Russia, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg repeated that the alliance will not send troops or planes to Ukraine.
“At these three summits we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who sold us out and betrayed us,“ Zelenskiy said in a video address released early on Thursday.
He said he expected “serious steps” from Western allies, repeating calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and complaining that the West had not provided Ukraine with planes, modern anti-missile systems, tanks or anti-ship weapons.
Not afraid
While they will not send troops or planes, the 30 nations of NATO, alarmed by the prospect that Russia might escalate the war with its neighbour after a grinding month-long conflict, will agree to send Kyiv equipment to defend against biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.
“Putin’s steps are made to make us afraid as well so it deters us from helping Ukraine ... we should definitely not fall into that trap,“ Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said as she arrived at the NATO summit. “Putin can’t win this war, it’s very important to all of us.”
The resolve to punish Moscow with massive sanctions will be underlined by an emergency meeting of the G7 advanced economies, which will bring Japan into the room with six NATO members.
Then, with a summit of the 27-nation European Union, countries representing more than half of the world’s gross domestic product will have met in one day.
Russia’s assault on Ukraine has killed thousands and driven almost a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes, according to United Nations data, including more than 3.6 million who have fled the country.
Putin says his forces are engaged in a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
“President Putin has made a big mistake,“ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, pointing to the strength of Ukraine’s resistance and the unity of the West.
In this “most serious security crisis in a generation,“ Stoltenberg said, “as long as we stand together we are safe.”
NATO has increased its presence on its eastern borders, with some 40,000 troops spread from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and leaders are expected to agree to deploy four new combat units in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Energy
Russia has been frozen out of world commerce to a degree never before visited on such a large economy. But the biggest loophole to sanctions is an exception for its energy exports. Some EU member states are resisting calls to ban Russian oil and gas, as they rely heavily on them.
“EU leaders, Ukraine protects you from Russian egression for almost a month,“ Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Twitter. “Stop financing the war, stop paying for Russian energy.”
EU leaders are expected to agree at their two-day summit to jointly buy gas, as they seek to cut reliance on Russian fuels and build a buffer against supply shocks.
Brussels is also aiming to strike a deal with Biden to secure additional U.S. liquefied natural gas supplies for the next two winters. — Reuters
