BRUSSELS, April 17. /TASS/. The European Union intends to continue the conflict in Ukraine until 2030 in order to have time to prepare for a military confrontation with Russia without US participation, Belgian Chief of Defense General Frederik Vansina said, noting that Russia will not attack Europe.

"We still have several years thanks to the blood of Ukrainians, who are buying us this time," Vansina said in an interview with Soir.

"2030 will be a difficult period for Europe. By that time, hopefully, the war in Ukraine will be over," he said, noting that by 2030 the EU "must be able to say" to the Russian leadership that "even without the protection of the Americans it will not be able to win a war against Europe."

Vansina added that he "would not like to frighten the population too much" and noted that Russia "will not attack Europe today, tomorrow, or within a month.

The Belgian defense chief called for a large-scale military buildup in Belgium and the EU in the coming years in order to ensure an "orderly" withdrawal of the United States from Europe. According to him, the withdrawing US forces and assets should be immediately replaced with European ones. At the same time, he noted that US forces stationed in Belgium, including F-16 aircraft, remain in place, and there is no information about their possible withdrawal. Vansina also believes that Europeans should not create new command structures but use existing NATO solutions, even if the United States withdraws its forces from Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that Russia is ready to formalize "in any way" its position that it does not intend to attack European countries. As the Russian leader noted, politicians who publicly claim otherwise are "out of their minds" or "frauds," and such statements are "complete nonsense" and a "direct lie." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the general political debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, stressed that Russia has never had and does not have intentions to attack NATO and the EU.