The High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, on Wednesday called on European countries to supply Ukraine with battle tanks, after warning that the war is entering a decisive phase and the dispute can be resolved «this spring and summer».
Speaking to the European Parliament in Thessaloniki, the head of European diplomacy insisted that European military aid should not only continue but «be increased.» «I call on all European countries that have modern and efficient tanks gathering dust in the barracks to give them to Ukraine,» he said in front of the MEPs, insisting that the phase is entering a decisive phase.
«The war is going to be decided this spring and summer», he warned, to ask for speed in the supply of armaments after regretting that the military allies of Kiev have spent «a lot of time» discussing the question of the Leopards while the Russian Army was preparing an offensive in the Donbas region.
In this regard, the High Representative has pushed away the scenario of an escalation of the conflict due to the dispatch of Western tanks and called for reinforcing these supplies. «They have been announced and there has been no world war», he has exposed.
For Borrell, the military situation on the ground is «worrying» for Ukraine, as Russia now has 360,000 soldiers on Ukrainian territory, more than in previous phases of the war. The Ukrainian army is now at a disadvantage in terms of the number of troops, he warned, stressing that sending arms and ammunition from Europe is even more important.
HE WILL ASK THE UN FOR INTERLOCUTION While stressing the importance of getting tanks and ammunition to Ukraine, the head of EU diplomacy said he would redouble diplomatic efforts to advance a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
«To win the peace, first you have to win the war, and you can help Ukraine militarily and make diplomatic efforts necessary for peace to come as soon as possible. These are not contradictory things,» he defended.
In this sense, he advanced that he will ask the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to abandon a mediation process with Russia, although he warned that so far everyone who has spoken with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to stop the war «has failed».
In the midst of the debate on the increase of Europe’s military weight, Borrell has pointed out that he is guided by «realism» and that the EU does not live a debate between «doves and hawks». «I do not have any warlike ardor but we do have to discuss how to achieve peace and for that we have to continue to support Ukraine militarily, more than we have done so far,» he explained.
All to insist that the war in Eastern Europe has to be a «wake-up call» that its military capacity must be greater and have a «more powerful» defense industry.
In his opinion, Europe must prepare for a «long war» and must be ready for a battle of «attrition» in which logistics and information will be key, at which point he warned that it is in the interest of Europeans to act geopolitically because the same Wagner group that operates in the Donbas region is the one that poses a threat in other regions of interest to Europe, such as the Sahel.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
