Borrell called for less applause for Zelensky and more shells

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, spoke at the international security conference in Munich on Sunday. He called on the world community to strengthen and, most importantly, speed up military aid to Ukraine. Borrel said that the meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union, which will be held on March 6-7, will be devoted to this issue.

Borrell noted that Ukraine is now in a critical situation with ammunition and military equipment, and said that new deliveries should occur as soon as possible – within the next few weeks. He criticized the slowness of European countries in solving issues, for example, about the supply of tanks to Ukraine, and advised to move from words to action.

“The European Union is the army of Ukraine, because this conflict is an existential threat to European security,” Borrell said.

According to Borrell, in order to supply more weapons to Ukraine, European countries may retain part of their own stockpiles. In this case, he said, it is necessary to distinguish between short-term and medium-term tasks. EU countries should increase the production capacity of their military industry in the future.

He also expressed confidence that Ukraine already belongs to the “European family”. According to Borrell, all that remains is to legitimize this affiliation. However, for this, according to the chief European diplomat, Ukraine will have to “do its homework”, in which the European Union is ready to support it. Borrell urged Western countries to “applaud Zelensky less and give him more shells.”

• The international security conference in Munich takes place on February 17-19. This year, its central theme is the war in Ukraine. The conference will be attended by leaders and high-ranking representatives of many states, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and US Vice President Kamala Harris. The Russian delegation was not invited to Munich, in contrast to opposition Kremlin politicians living abroad – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov and others.