STOCKHOLM, August 29. /TASS/. The European Union views its training mission for the Ukrainian army, its military mission and support for the Ukrainian defense industry as a contribution to security guarantees for Kiev, top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said.
"When we talk about the European Union level, then what is our contribution to the security guarantees is the training mission, military mission and also the support for the defense industry of Ukraine," she pointed out upon arrival at an informal meeting of the bloc’s foreign and defense ministers in Copenhagen.
According to Kallas, the ministers will discuss "how to change the mandate" of the existing EU missions in order for them to be ready to continue supporting Ukraine if a peace agreement is reached.
Kallas also called for considering further weapons supplies to Kiev. "Ukraine needs all the military support right now. <...> We have the ammunition initiative and we have put a deadline at the end of this year. We are discussing whether we can bring that forward because they desperately need ammunition, they desperately need air defense," she said.
Kallas admitted that there was no single European solution on sending troops to Ukraine. According to her, every EU member state will decide for itself whether to deploy forces to Ukraine once hostilities are over. When asked if Brussels had security guarantees from Moscow for European troops in Ukraine, Kallas claimed that "Russia does not want peace," and called for increasing pressure on Moscow to make it accept EU troop deployment.
The top diplomat also urged EU countries to introduce secondary sanctions against Russian energy exports similar to the tariffs the US has imposed on Moscow’s partners. This is the first time an EU official has openly called for European secondary sanctions as Brussels has so far opposed such a measure.
Meanwhile, Kallas was taken by surprise by a Danish reporter’s question as to whether the EU planned to offer any security guarantees to its member Denmark in case the US attacked the country. The top diplomat avoided giving a direct response. "We are respecting Greenland’s decisions, whatever they want to decide, and we are also supporting Denmark as an EU member state."
Copenhagen talks
The two-day meeting in Denmark is not expected to make any practical decisions or issue any written statements. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and David McAllister, chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, will be the event’s special guests. Both have said they will urge the ministers to increase pressure on Russia and make every effort to boost the EU’s militarization.