European Council President Antonio Costa, EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos are visiting Kiev, where they will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The highly symbolic choice coincides with the first day of work for the new European Commission. ANSA is the only Italian media accompanying the mission.
“On our first day in office, we are here to send a message: we stand by Ukraine militarily, financially, and politically from day one,” declared Costa.
“I think it is very important to come here and start our mandate in Ukraine, both the President of the European Council and the High Representative, along with the Commissioner for Enlargement,” Kallas said. “Ukraine is a topic we must address on multiple levels during our mandate and is the biggest security issue we currently face. It is a good message that we come here together to demonstrate a spirit of unity, in the ‘Team Europe’ logic,” Kallas added, speaking to journalists.
Kallas to ANSA: ‘On Ukraine, do not exclude anything’
“So far, the discussion has been around which countries would be willing to send troops to Ukraine and which would not: I believe nothing should be excluded and a certain strategic ambiguity should be maintained on the point,” said EU High Representative Kaja Kallas in an interview with a group of international media, including ANSA, at the start of her term. Kallas then emphasized that Europe could “play a role” if a ceasefire were really reached and troops needed to be sent to verify compliance. “The choice, however, remains in the hands of Ukraine,” she noted.
In her first tweet as High Representative, Kallas wrote: “It is a privilege to be in Kiev with European Council President Costa and Commissioner Kos. In my first visit since taking office, my message is clear: the European Union wants Ukraine to win this war. We will do whatever it takes to make it happen.” The former Estonian Prime Minister, during the interview with ANSA, said she is already “building bridges with the US administration.” “But when I hear reports from member states that have had talks with the Trump administration… well, they no longer say it is so easy to end this war,” Kallas confides. “Perhaps we should question whether the ceasefire serves the Russians to not give up their objectives because it is tough for Ukraine at the moment, but we are overestimating Moscow: their economy is going through a tough phase, with sanctions, deficits, inflation, personnel shortages,” she explains. So it is also “in the interest of the US” to continue supporting Ukraine because a Moscow victory “would strengthen China, Iran, and North Korea, who are already working together.”
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