Asserting that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine must be countered, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said Ukraine must win this war and Europe was committed to doing everything to ensure the win.
Addressing the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 here, she said the playbook of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine comes straight out of another century.
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“Global cooperation is the antidote to Russia’s blackmail,” she said and denounced Russian aggression and its use of “hunger and grain to wield power”.
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This is not a matter of Ukraine’s survival. It is not about Europe. It is about the entire global community. Ukraine must win this war and Putin’s aggression must be countered and we will do everything to ensure that, she said.
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“We will do everything we can to help Ukrainians prevail. For the first time, the EU is providing military aid to a country under attack. We proposed over 10 billion euros in macro-financial assistance, the largest such package ever conceived by the EU for a third country,” she noted.
“We are determined to stop funding of Russian military. In parallel, Ukraine needs direct financial support to keep its economy running. But that’s not all,” she added.
The EU leader said Ukraine will have to be helped to rise from the ashes and that is where reconstruction operations would be needed.
“As (Ukrainian President) Zelenskyy said, the work required to be done is colossal, but we are determined to do everything,” she added.
“Today, we must address the costs and consequences of Putin’s war of choice. This is putting our whole international order into question. And that’s why countering Russia’s aggression is a task for the entire global community,” she said.
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In terms of energy, she said the crisis in Ukraine has galvanised Europe’s embrace of renewable sources and diversification of its energy supply.
According to von der Leyen, she could see a long-term future in which Russia found a path back to alignment with Europe.
“This brutal invasion is standing up against the leadership in Russia,” she said, adding that the people of Russia, who ultimately will control the nation’s future, are the ones who will decide the nation’s way forward.
