EU Defense Ministers are meeting in Stockholm on Mar. 7-8 to discuss military assistance to Ukraine at which a representative of Ukraine is attending.
“The defence ministers will first discuss the EU’s military support to Ukraine, especially the training of the Ukrainian armed forces by the EU’s assistance mission to Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine). Mission commanders will provide a status update at this sessionat which a representative from Ukraine will also be participating,” said, spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov will attend the event and provide EU ministers with an update on the current operations and identify the most critical priorities and needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The defence ministers will also discuss financing the procurement of artillery ammunition in support of Ukraine, and to discuss coordination of military support between the European Union and representatives of the UN and NATO.
Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres travelled to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his third trip since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Guterres was due to arrive in Kyiv later Tuesday before meeting with Zelensky Wednesday morning “to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (grain export scheme) in all its aspects and other pertinent issues,” the spokesman said.
Guterres is due to depart Ukraine on Wednesday, and be back at United Nations headquarters in New York the following day.
No further details were given on the visit, the UN chief’s third after trips to Ukraine in April and August last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022.
At a UN Security Council meeting held on the anniversary of the start of the war, Guterres slammed the invasion is a “blatant violation” of the UN Charter and international law.
“It has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement,” he told the 15-member council, which includes permanent member Russia, saying life was “a living hell for the people of Ukraine.”
Guterres has emphasized the human toll of the war, saying more than eight million Ukrainians have fled to other parts of Europe, and another 5.4 million are internally displaced.
