European leaders (including Canadian Justin Trudeau) in Kiev on the occasion of the third anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine .
And the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen announces a new tranche of aid : "Europe is here to strengthen Ukraine at this critical moment. I can announce that a new payment of 3.5 billion euros for Ukraine will arrive already in March. And, as President Costa just said, there will be a special European Council. I will present a comprehensive plan on how to increase our weapons production and our defense capabilities in Europe. And Ukraine will benefit from it too. No one wants peace more than the Ukrainian people. But a just and lasting peace can only be achieved by force ."
The European Union today also announced the green light for the sixteenth package of sanctions against Moscow, which responded through the mouth of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov : "It was completely predictable. The Europeans continue to follow the path of sanctions, the path of conviction of the need to continue the war," he said, adding that "there are no preconditions for a dialogue with Europe."
Zelensky, for his part, called for a "real and lasting" peace by 2025 and proposed a complete exchange of all prisoners of war as the "beginning" of the process to end the conflict .
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Moscow's position: peace only at the end of negotiations, no ceasefire for negotiations.
The war will end "only when possible negotiations produce a firm and sustainable outcome that satisfies Russia." And among these conditions there must be "an ironclad clause guaranteeing that Ukraine will not join NATO."
(Online Union)
