EU Foreign Affairs Council: military support to Ukraine and 17th package of sanctions against Russia

Work has started on a 17th package of sanctions against Russia focusing on the shadow fleet and other elements, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas announced after the European Foreign Affairs Council, convened on 14 April in Luxembourg.

The European Foreign Affairs Council also discussed the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the enhanced EU military support to Kyiv. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha joined the meeting online to update his EU counterparts on the latest developments both politically and on the ground.

“It is clear that all the EU member states want peace,” Kaia Kallas told journalists after the meeting. “And yet we are seeing that Russia wants war because we saw the deadliest attack just yesterday (against Sumy on 13 April), and zoom airstrikes over the weekend. It is clear that they are stalling and do not want peace at all. So the only way to get Russia to negotiate seriously is increasing pressure.”

According to the High Representative, the EU is the biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine, but also the greatest supporter of the Ukrainian defence industry, as European countries have so far committed over €23 billion for military aid to Ukraine this year.

The Council also touched on the training of Ukrainian soldiers through the EU Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine), which has so far trained over 73,000 soldiers. The Council discussed what more could be done when it comes to the mission.

As to the initiative on delivering two million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, the High Representative announced that two-thirds of the target had already been reached, and that a large majority of member states agreed that the EU needed to do more.

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Press release

Press remarks by High Representative Kaja Kallas