KVIY (AFP) Across Kyiv and Ukraine, air raid sirens sounded on Friday ahead of the start of a summit attended by senior Ukrainian officials and EU officials.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday with senior EU diplomat Josep Borrell for talks on Ukraine’s EU membership.
Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Cragg said on Friday that Ukraine was “likely to be disappointed” by the summit.
However, Cragg said Ukraine was unlikely to be given a firm date to begin EU accession talks, indicating that a date for accession talks could only be set in the fall. Still, Cragg said that the presence of so many high-ranking EU officials (15 EU members in addition to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council) at the Kyiv summit was a “very high level” of support for Ukraine. It will send a strong signal to .
Ukraine’s allies are asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finalize plans for a multi-billion dollar loan program, the Financial Times reported Friday.
An IMF official said he plans to meet with Ukrainian officials in mid-February to negotiate a loan that could range from $14 billion to $16 billion, the report said. citing officials familiar with the matter.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union Council President Charles Michel will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. Von der Leyen and other senior EU officials met with Ukrainian officials after arriving in Kyiv on Thursday. Zelensky called for tougher sanctions against Russia by the European Union, but the new sanctions the European Union is preparing are unlikely to meet his government’s demands.
EU Council President Charles Michel said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a defining moment for the European bloc.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at an important summit in Kyiv today.
Ukraine on Friday unveiled a criminal case against the head of the Russian mercenary company Wagner, vowing to track down and prosecute the company’s militants trying to flee the country.
“We quickly realized that we were facing a violent aggression by Russia. This was a turning point in Europe’s history,” said European Council President Charles Michel. “And at that tipping point, European leaders needed to rise up. That’s how we quickly defined our strategy.”
Michel also stressed that Ukraine has made progress towards her EU membership.
“This flagrant violation of international law by Russia poses a threat to the whole world.”
A German government spokesman said at a regular press conference in Berlin on Friday that it had approved the export of industrial stock Leopard 1 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
A spokesman declined to comment on the number of tanks exported.
The Kremlin on Friday warned of “further imbalances” in global energy markets ahead of his EU embargo on Russian petroleum products, which takes effect this weekend.
EU Council leader Charles Michel arrived in Kyiv on Friday to attend a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledge his support for Ukraine’s bid to join the EU. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech at an event marking the Soviet victory over Nazi forces in Stalingrad that Russia was threatened by German tanks like World War II. It was “very delusional”.
