Good evening, 

This week is going to be unavoidably a Ukrainian week.  

Today, the Foreign Affairs Council. Tomorrow, a meeting with the Secretary-General of NATO [Jens Stoltenberg], myself as High Representative, and Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro] Kuleba, at the NATO Headquarters to evaluate together the military situation and the actions to be taken. And, immediately after, to the United Nations and the vote at the General Assembly. 

So, both internationally [and] militarily, at the European institutions we continue paying attention to the war in Ukraine. And the previous week in Munich [at the Munich Security Conference], also. 

But today, we started the Council [meeting] with a minute of silence to pay tribute to the over 40,000 victims – the number continues increasing and we are already at about 40,000 victims – of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.   

The priority of the European Union and its Member States is to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected in both countries without a shelter and all the needs we can provide, we are doing it. 

We have been responding quickly and with unwavering solidarity to the Turkish and Syrian people in these difficult times.  

After this minute of silence, we started discussing about Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was one year ago. And we had a long and intense Foreign Affairs Council on that.  

One year. One year of daily deaths, destruction and crimes against humanity.  

I am sure that Putin was not thinking, when he unleashed the invasion of Ukraine, that one year later he and his army would be in the situation they are now [in]. 

But we could not imagine either the amount of suffering, destruction and death that the Ukrainian people are bearing since then. It has been, certainly, an awful year and the coming weeks will be crucial.  

This was the feeling at the Munich [Security] Conference. This has been the feeling at the Foreign Affairs Council today.  

The coming weeks, the coming Spring will be crucial. Russia is massing troops in the frontlines: 350,000 Russian soldiers, almost twice the number of soldiers that were there at the beginning of the war, [and there are] 50,000 artillery shots every day. 

Yes, certainly, Russia is unleashing another offensive and it will continue. 

We have to continue our strong, unwavering support to Ukraine, until Ukraine prevails and wins.  

For that, time is of essence. Speed means lives, and we need to respond quickly. Not only [to provide] more support but to provide it quicker. 

We have to continue delivering what is needed. We have tools. The European Peace Facility will continue funding and training the Ukrainian armed forces in the framework of our [EU Military] Training Mission (EUMAM Ukraine).  

But, as I said several times these last days, the Ukrainian army urgently needs large amounts of ammunition to counter Russia’s aggression. You may have a gun, but a gun needs a bullet – especially for tanks and artillery.  

We have to deliver. We have to move faster. Today, we discussed how to intensify our joint efforts. But this is a matter for the Ministers of Defence more than the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. I will present a concrete proposal to the Ministers of Defence in Stockholm on the next 7-8 March. 

It is evident that we have to launch procedures in order to increase the capacity of European industry to produce more and quicker. It is evident that we have to intensify our joint efforts, notably through possible procurements at the European level to address Ukraine’s urgent needs. 

But it is also clear that in the next weeks, the best way to provide ammunition to Ukraine is to share the already existing ammunition stockpiles of the European armies. We do not have to wait for them to be produced. You have to use what has already been produced and is stockpiled or has already been contracted and will be produced in the coming days. Priority has to be given to the supplies to the Ukrainian army - as much as we can.  

So, we have short-term objectives, medium-term and long-term [objectives]. But the important ones today are the short-term [objectives]. It does not mean that we do not have to think about how to provide more, quicker and better capacities through any kind of procedure, but my most important concern is to work on a time-scale of weeks. And a time-scale of weeks means to use what you have already produced, and to produce more in order to fill the gaps. 

All that has to be done in order to put more pressure on Russia. 

Today, we have been discussing the 10th package of sanctions that, as High-Representative and [with] the [European] Commission, together, we have presented as a regulation for the Council to approve. 

We are on the way to approving it, and I think it is going to be approved during the next hours, in the next days - before 24 [February], in any case. The 10^th package of sanctions will be approved by written procedure before 24 [February]. 

The obstacles that still remain will be overcome. This is the commitment of all Ministers [for Foreign Affairs]. There was strong support across the room for the package, and I insist, I am confident that we will be able to adopt it before the end of the week. In the end, it is the Council who approves the sanctions, and this requires unanimity.  

Let me [recall] that sanctions work, that we are impacting severely the Russian economy. Look at the public deficit. Look at the trade deficit. Look at the income coming from selling hydrocarbons. These three variables are in a very bad shape.  

Last year, it was a good year for Russia because they could sell a lot of hydrocarbons in a moment where the energy prices were rocketing, but this is over. We have gotten rid of our dependency on Russia’s hydrocarbons and the prices are going down. Russia is selling its oil at $40 a barrel – half the price of the Brent in international markets.  

So, have a look at these three parameters – trade, [public] deficit and income from hydrocarbons – and you will see how much the sanctions are affecting the Russian capacity to continue financing the war.  

We also discussed about how the work on [ensuring] full accountability is going. We discussed which is the appropriate mechanism to face these accountability procedures. 

We have this vote at the UN General Assembly this week. Together with Ukraine and our G7 partners, we are conducting an intense outreach in order to ensure a broad support for the Resolution on UN Charter principles being put to vote at the General Assembly.  

I will be, together with several colleagues, in New York.  

We all have been in Kyiv during this year. Today, President [of the United States, Joe] Biden is visiting our Ukrainian neighbours and friends. The visit of President Biden is a clear demonstration of our transatlantic unity and our resolve to continue supporting Ukraine together. 

My meeting tomorrow with the Secretary General of NATO [Jens Stoltenberg] and Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro] Kuleba is also a prove of this transatlantic unity. 

This war happens on European soil, but it has a global impact. This war has been sending shockwaves to the whole world, creating a lot of trouble on energy and food markets, increasing prices, provoking inflation, the reaction of the central banks, raising interest rates, creating downturns on economic growth. After the pandemic, the economies were recovering; the war has killed the recovery in many places.  

The Black Sea Grain Initiative - that was a relief of this food crisis - is expiring in mid-March, in a couple of weeks. And it needs to continue. All countries in the world must [put] pressure [on] Russia to allow its extension and remove its restrictions for agricultural export.  

We have been contributing through our EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, which have allowed and facilitated the export of 50 million tons of exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world and helping to stabilise global food prices.  But, this deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, has to be extended. Otherwise, we will have again a food crisis in the world.