Borrell: EU Foreign Ministers to meet in Kyiv today – for the first ever meeting outside EU

EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced this morning on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he was today convening EU Foreign Ministers in Kyiv, for the first ever meeting of all 27 Member States outside the EU.

Borrell has been in Ukraine since 30 September. 

On Saturday, he visited Odesa, where he learnt about its cultural and historical roots and said the city should be “on the front pages of newspapers thanks to its cultural activities“.

On the same day, Borrell visited the port of Odesa to see the proof of Putin’s attacks against the infrastructure of the Ukrainian ports “as a way of creating hunger in the world by blocking exports of Ukrainian grain”.

“Here we can see the port infrastructure being damaged. More than 20 people have been killed. Every night there is an attack. It’s still a lot of infrastructure. Yes, but it’s idle, the port is empty and the cranes are stopped. And this creates a big damage for the whole world, not only for the Ukrainians,” Borrell said.

On 1 October, in Kyiv, Borrell joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in the commemoration of the Ukrainian Day of Defenders  – “a very moving ceremony”, said Borrell.

In Kyiv, Borrell also met – for the first time in-person – new Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov to discuss the continuous EU military assistance. “Ukraine needs more capabilities and needs them faster. We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine,” Borrell said on X after the meeting.

On 1 October, the EU High Representative also visited the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, fighting against Russia disinformation, and the EU Delegation in Ukraine. He also met with representatives of civil society “active in advancing the reform and overall accountability agenda”. 

Borrell also took part in a ceremony in Babi Yar, near Kyiv, where on 29-30 September 1941, the Nazis murdered 33,771 Jewish men, women, and children in the single largest killing of the Holocaust.

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Borrell’s announcement on X (Twitter)