Vladimir Putin has failed in all his plans and calculations made before the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Now he must immediately stop this senseless and baseless war.
This was stated today by High Representative of the EU, Josep Borrell, Ukrinform reports.
"Do not need to try driving a wedge between us. We are united as never before. I have never seen member states so united with our transatlantic partners," he said. Putin believed that he would conquer Ukraine, but he failed. He believed he could divide us, but he failed. He believed he could weaken the transatlantic relationship, but he failed. Now he must stop this war."
Josep Borrell also noted that Russia is conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine for no reason. "Nowadays, everyone can see on TV screens what's happening. Russians are massively and indiscriminately bombing Ukrainian cities, which led to hundreds of victims among civilians and displacing two million refugees," he said. Is it our fault that there are two million refugees? No. Russia is waging war in the way it did in Syria, in the way it did in Chechnya, bombing and destroying the country."
According to the High Representative of the EU, the leaders of the European Union will work in two main areas.
"The first is to continue to put pressure on Russia to stop this insane war and stop killing civilians through diplomatic means and sanctions," he said. The second direction of the discussion is to identify ways to increase the resilience of the European Union, in particular in reducing its energy dependence and developing defense capabilities. In this context, the heads of state and government will discuss efforts to build a solid economic framework to meet the challenges facing Russia today."
Today, the two-day informal meeting of EU Heads of State and Government begins in Versailles. One of the meeting issues may be consideration of Ukraine's application for membership in the European Union. According to media reports, EU leaders will offer Ukraine a closer partnership but unlikely to offer Ukraine accelerated EU membership.
On March 1, the European Parliament recommended that Ukraine be granted EU candidate status.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is waiting for a concrete signal from EU leaders.