Leaders from NATO, the G7 and the EU convened in Brussels to find ways of supporting Ukraine without pushing the West into an all-out war with Russia. A new US-European energy deal aims to isolate Moscow.
G7 leaders called on Russia to end the war in Ukraine
Helicopters patrolled the skies and security was beefed up in Brussels as leaders of the NATO, the G7 and European Union held consecutive summits in the Belgian capital to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The high-stake talks ended with new pledges aiming to isolate Russia further but stopped short of a direct military response to the war in Ukraine.
NATO leaders agreed to activate its chemical and nuclear defense units in light of a potential chemical attack by Russian forces in Ukraine and committed to bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank.
G7 leaders agreed to block financial transactions involving the Russian central bank’s international reserves of gold and ramp up humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
A new transatlantic energy pact, signed by the leaders of the European Union and the US, marked a more robust initiative by the West to isolate the Kremlin for its actions in Ukraine.
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In an effort to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian energy — the bloc imports 41% of its gas from Russia — the US agreed to increase liquid natural gas (LNG) exports to the EU by 15 billion cubic meters this year.
After announcing the deal, US President Joe Biden highlighted how Russian President Vladimir Putin uses energy to “coerce and manipulate his neighbors.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, welcomed the deal and said it was important for Europe to shift away from Russia and toward energy suppliers that are “trustworthy, friendly and reliable.”
She also urged Western allies to remain vigilant while imposing sanctions on Russia.
“Now all our efforts should be on enforcing these sanctions and preventing circumvention and evasion,” she said following the EU summit.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses French lawmakers via video lin, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 23, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Ukraine’s leader called for solidarity on Thursday, a month since Russia’s invasion began, warning he would see who sells out at summits in Europe where bolstering sanctions and NATO is planned but restrictions on energy could prove divisive.
U.S. President Joe Biden has arrived in Brussels for meetings of the alliance, G7 and European Union over a conflict that began on Feb. 24 and has caused more than 3.6 million refugees to flee the country.
Biden’s visit could also shine light on a dispute with European allies, some of whom are heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, over whether to impose further energy sanctions.
The issue has been a “substantial” topic and the subject of “intense back and forth” in recent days, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. The United States has already banned imports of Russian oil.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Moscow planned to switch gas sales made to “unfriendly” countries to roubles, causing European gas prices to soar on concerns the move would exacerbate the region’s energy crunch.
As the humanitarian toll from the conflict continues to rise, driving a quarter of Ukraine’s population of 44 million from their homes, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on people around the world to take to the streets and demand the war end.
“Come from your offices, your homes, your schools and universities, come in the name of peace, come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life,” he said in a video address.
The United States planned to announce more sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs on Thursday, and officials would have more to say on Friday about European energy issues, Sullivan said.
Ahead of his meeting with Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would boost its forces in Eastern Europe by deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he expected “serious steps” from Western allies.
He repeated his call for a no-fly zone and complained that the West had not provided Ukraine with planes, modern anti-missile systems, tanks or anti-ship weapons.
“At these three summits we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who sold us out and betrayed us,” he said in a video address released early on Thursday.
Speaking to representatives of the United Kingdom-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) today, Zelenskyy said that we heard for years about the allegedly open doors of NATO, but we have already heard that we won’t be able to join.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on March 15 said that his war-torn country was prepared to accept security guarantees that stop short of its long-term objective of the NATO alliance membership, which Russia opposes.
Zelenskyy said that the country realises that it cannot join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO).
Speaking to representatives of the United Kingdom-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) today, Zelenskyy said that we heard for years about the allegedly open doors of NATO, but we have already heard that we won’t be able to join.
“If we cannot enter through open doors, then we must cooperate with the associations with which we can, which will help us, protect us … and have separate guarantees,” he added.
He further said that it’s the truth we must recognise, and I’m glad that our people are starting to realise that and count on themselves and our partners who are helping us.
One of Zelenskiy’s top aides said the war would be over by May, or even end within weeks, as Russia had run out of fresh troops.
“We are at a fork in the road now,” Oleksiy Arestovich said in a video. He said he expected either a peace deal within one or two weeks or another Russian attempt with new reinforcements, which could prolong the conflict for another month.
“I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement, maybe much earlier: we will see,” Arestovich said.
In Rivne in western Ukraine, officials said 19 people had been killed in a Russian airstrike on a TV tower. If confirmed it would be the worst attack on a civilian target so far in the northwest where Russian ground troops have yet to tread.
Peace talks have focused so far on local ceasefires to let civilians evacuate and bring aid to surrounding cities.
The worst hit is the southeastern port of Mariupol, where hundreds have been killed since Russia laid siege in the war’s first week. Russian troops let the first column of cars leave Mariupol on Monday but the attempt to bring in aid convoys have failed for 10 straight days. Ukrainian officials said they would try again.
While Russia has failed to seize any cities in the north and east, it has had more success in the south, where Moscow said on Tuesday it now controlled the entire Kherson region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday peace talks were sounding more realistic but more time was needed, as Russian air strikes killed five people in the capital Kyiv and the refug ee tally from Moscow’s invasion reached 3 million.
Moscow has not captured any of Ukraine’s 10 biggest cities following its incursion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Ukrainian officials have raised hopes the war could end sooner than expected, possibly by May, saying Moscow may be coming to terms with its failure to impose a new government by force and running out of fresh troops.
“The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in a video address on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of talks.
In a hint of a possible compromise, Zelenskiy said earlier Ukraine was prepared to accept security guarantees from the West that stop short of its long-term goal of joining NATO. Moscow sees any future Ukraine membership of the Western alliance as a threat and has demanded guarantees it will never join.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to predict progress in the talks. “The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that (the talks) are continuing is probably positive.”
A barrage of Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134, a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as fighting raged elsewhere.
An injured serviceman is escorted by medical workers, following an attack on the Yavoriv military base, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at a hospital in Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. REUTERS/Roman Baluk
Russia’s defence ministry said the air strike had destroyed a large amount of weapons supplied by foreign nations that were being stored at the sprawling training facility, and that it had killed “up to 180 foreign mercenaries”.
Reuters could not independently verify the casualties reported by either side.
The attack on the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a base just 15 miles (25 km) from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors, brought the conflict to the doorstep of the Western defence alliance.
Russia had warned on Saturday that convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine could be considered legitimate targets.
Britain called the attack as a “significant escalation,” and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded with a post on Twitter saying “the brutality must stop.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, warned any attack on NATO territory would trigger a full response by the alliance.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv facility.
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Russia had used high-precision, long-range weapons to strike Yavoriv and a separate facility in the village of Starichi.
“As a result of the strike, up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large amount of foreign weapons were destroyed,” he said.
