05/13/2022 17:27 (act 05/13/2022 17:30)
G7 Representatives in Wangels ©APA/AFP/POOL
The EU wants to provide another 500 million euros for the supply of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces. The announcement was made by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast. This would increase EU funds available for military aid to Ukraine to €2 billion.
A first €500 million package had already been approved at the end of February, and two more followed in the coming months. According to EU information, the money will be used to finance personal protective equipment, fuel, but also weapons for defence. With the additional 500 million euros, a new impetus must be given now, Borrell said Friday in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The money must be spent on heavy weapons.
Funds for military aid come from the so-called European Peace Fund. It is a new EU funding instrument that can also be used to strengthen the capabilities of armed forces in partner countries. For the period from 2021 to 2027, the peace mechanism is endowed with around five billion euros.
Borrell also pushed for a quick decision by EU member states on an oil embargo against Russia. “I’m sure we’ll come to an agreement and we need that agreement,” he said. If EU state ambassadors fail to reach an agreement, the European Union’s foreign ministers would have to make a breakthrough at their meeting next Monday. Hungary, in particular, continues to reject a Russian oil embargo.
Ukraine has asked the seven richest Western industrialized countries for more weapons in order to avoid a war of Russian aggression. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after the G7 meeting that the Ukrainian armed forces lack flexible missile and combat aircraft systems. Western arms deliveries are now generally satisfactory, Kuleba said. However, it is clear that support must continue until Ukraine wins the war against Russia.
He also called on the G7 to use confiscated Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine. It is about several hundred billion euros. Kuleba expressed concern about the blockade of Ukrainian ports. This is why the world’s urgently needed grain cannot be exported. Russia makes no move to clear the ports. Ukraine is ready to talk more about this. “But Russia prefers war to negotiations.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced a concerted G7 response to the global consequences of Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine. Baerbock said only the tip of the iceberg can be seen from the emerging global food crisis. It will get worse when the effects of the climate crisis become clear in the summer. It is important not only to discuss the problem, but also to agree on concrete commitments “that show that we are ready to fight this food war”. She initially did not give details.
Germany currently holds the presidency of the G7. Other members are the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, whose foreign minister Baerbock had after Weissenhaus Castle.
With a large banner that read “G7: Get out of fossils, enter into peace”, environmental protection organization Greenpeace held a demonstration on the Baltic Sea beach in Wangels for rapid independence of the G7 countries from fossil fuels. “Income from oil, coal and gas is funding Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Lisa Göldner, a climate expert at the environmental organization, said on Friday. Fossil energy emissions would also fuel the climate crisis and thus fuel more crises and conflict.