Von der Leyen: Ukraine is our first line of defense, we must strengthen support
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is convinced that Ukraine is the first line of defense of European countries against Russian aggression and advocates increased military support and reparations loans.
Recalling that the informal European Council meeting taking place in Copenhagen on Wednesday has two issues on the agenda - defense and Ukraine - she said: "On defense, my commission has prepared a scoping paper to discuss the direction of action. If it comes to Ukraine, if we all agree that Ukraine is our first line of defense, we have to step up military support for Ukraine. This is the reason why today we are disbursing 4 billion euros for Ukraine, 2 billion euros of that will be invested in drones, and we have to increase the pressure on Russia. And this is why I have proposed reparation loans for Ukraine on the basis of the immobilized Russian assets."
At the same time, von der Leyen again emphasized that this is not about confiscating assets. "Ukraine has to pay back this loan if Russia pays reparations because the perpetrator has to be held accountable. In terms of the reparations loan, it's a very sensitive discussion, and many countries are very hesitant to say that this is a good idea. There's a growing consensus among us that it's not only the European taxpayers that should pay for the support to Ukraine, but that Russia has to be held accountable. Russia is the perpetrator, it has caused the damage, and it has to be held accountable.. And I think we now have a solid legal way to do this with proposals for reparations," von der Leyen said.
"What I see overall, also in the front line countries, we had drones in Poland, we had the incursion of the airspace in Estonia, is a pattern. And this pattern is coming from Russia insofar as Russia tries to test us, but Russia also tries to sow division and anxiety in our societies. We will not let this happen," she said.