EU summit agrees to increase military support to Ukraine, particularly on air defence
At a meeting on Thursday, 15 December, European Union heads of state agreed to increase further military support for Ukraine, as well as to direct efforts to hold Russia accountable for war crimes.
Source: Conclusions of the EU summit, published on Thursday, reported by European Pravda
Quote: "The EU remains committed to providing political and military assistance to Ukraine, notably through the European Peace Facility and the EU Military Assistance Mission, and by stepping up the bilateral provision of support, in particular air defence capacities and assistance."
Details: The European Council, as noted, welcomed and encouraged further efforts to ensure full accountability for war crimes and the other most serious crimes in connection with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Among these, further work with the aim of using Russian assets frozen in the EU for the reconstruction of Ukraine and with the aim of compensating for the damages caused to it is also mentioned.
The leaders of the EU states emphasised that they will continue to increase collective pressure on Russia to end its war of aggression and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
"[The European Council] welcomes the reinforcement of EU restrictive measures against Russia, including through the EU’s ninth package of restrictive measures and the international oil price cap… The European Union stands ready to continue to reinforce the restrictive measures," the conclusions of the summit stated.
The leaders of the EU states said that they are ready to support Ukraine’s initiative for a just peace and that "to date, Russia has not shown any genuine willingness regarding a fair and sustainable peace."
Background: As of the end of November, the European Union has provided Ukraine with over EUR€8 billion in military aid.
In addition, the Council of the EU previously reached a political agreement on increasing the capacity of the European Peace Facility, from which the EU reimburses member states for the supply of arms to Ukraine, by 2 billion euros.
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