EU foreign ministers gathered in Kiev on Tuesday to project unity with Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of the Bucha massacre, even as divisions within the bloc continue to delay key military and financial support.
Ministers from 15 EU countries traveled to the Ukrainian capital as Brussels reiterated that pressure to end the war “must fall on the aggressor, not the victim”, as EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Earlier on Tuesday, 26 countries issued a statement commemorating the victims of the massacre. Hungary was the only country that did not sign the declaration. The country is still holding a €90 billion loan to Ukraine that EU leaders agreed to in December.
Budapest is vetoing the loan disbursement over that of Ukraine failure to repair an oil pipeline that sends oil to Hungary from Russia but passes through Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged the EU to move forward, saying the loan “must be dissolved” and is essential not as “charity” but for European security.
Local authorities have at least one case repair pipeline since the full invasion of Russia in early 2022.
Brussels in two minds about curbing the Ukrainian pipeline
Ukraine’s decision to hold an EU mission to inspect the Druzhba pipeline that sends Russia…
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While the EU countries have publicly sideways with Ukraine in conflict, have been EU officials increasingly loud for Kiev’s strategy.
Hungary, as well as Slovakia, have maintained the bloc’s 20th package of sanctions against Russia since February. Earlier on Tuesday, Kallas said he had “no good news to give” but added he hoped the bloc could be aligned ahead of the next meeting of EU leaders in Cyprus at the end of April.
Kallas also sought to reassure Kiev that attention would not waver despite escalating tensions in the Middle East, saying the EU would not allow other conflicts to divert support for Ukraine. “The wars in Iran and Ukraine are very interconnected,” she said, pointing to Iranian-designed Shahed drones used across Ukraine and rising oil prices to Moscow’s benefit.
At the same time, Ukraine must “do its job”, Kallas said. The country must speed up reforms to access up to 4 billion euros in EU funds, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos wrote in a letter Tuesday to the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, seen by Euractiv.
In Kiev, Kallas said he hoped to see Ukraine join the bloc ‘soon’ – but declined to set an exact date for the country’s enlargement.
(wow)
