The EU-Ukraine Association Council is scheduled for September 5, said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy.
“We will continue to support Ukraine in advancing the reform agenda of its European perspective after Ukraine has been granted candidate status. We will hold an Association Council on September 5 after the summer break and we are working to ensure that this Council advances the European perspective for Ukraine through implementation of the necessary reforms,” he announced on Monday in Brussels at a press conference following the meeting of the EU Council at the level of foreign ministers.
Borrell confirmed that the ministers had unanimously approved his proposal for the next tranche from the European Peace Fund in the amount of 500 million euros, which will be formally decided in the coming days.
The High Representative stated that the EU is “terrified of the brutality of Russian aggression against the civilian population in Ukraine, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war”, the Russians are “burning fields with grain”, “blocking food supplies” and “are responsible for world hunger” . “Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation, while at the same time unleashing the global food and energy crisis. Ministers agreed that we must continue to stand by Ukraine in its struggle for independence. Ukraine needs more weapons and we will supply them. We We will continue to support Ukraine,” he assured.
Borrell also said that work continues on sanctions for the Russian Federation. He also refuted claims that energy price increases were driven up by the EU’s ban on Russian oil. “Many say that the EU, by imposing sanctions, provoked a rise in prices. This is not true. The price of oil rose one month before the war, and after we banned the export of oil from Russia, the price of oil fell,” the High Representative stated. .
