EU foreign affairs ministers: Peace supporters should be in Ukraine, not Moscow on May 9

“Tomorrow we are going to Ukraine and we are going to make available one billion euro for Ukraine’s defense industry. All those who truly support peace cannot stand side by side with Putin who has started this full scale war of aggression in Ukraine. Those who truly support peace should be in Ukraine rather than in Moscow tomorrow,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told reporters after the meeting.

When asked what message she had for Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is instead expected to stand side by side with Putin at the military parade on May 9, Kallas said “on the positive side, Serbian military is not participating in the parade.”

“That would have been really a next level step. But of course, it weighs on the conscience of all those people who are going, to stand side by side with Putin who is waging a war right now, not in history, but right now, the biggest war in Europe since the Second World War. Like I said before, member states are not taking this lightly. When we are discussing next steps, member states have a lot of questions: who is your friend, who are you really dealing with,” said Kaja Kallas.

The host of the meeting, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, emphasized that on the second day of the informal gathering, which was also attended by EU candidate countries, including Serbia, there was also a discussion about the need for Europe to push back against Putin’s propaganda.