The high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, warned on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine is entering a new “dangerous” phase and a “fearful scenario” because Russia is backing down in the conventional conflict and is threatening to use nuclear weapons.
“The war has entered a new phase. An undoubtedly dangerous phase, because we are facing a fearsome scenario, to which we do not have to close our eyes”, said Borrell in a speech before the plenary session of the European Parliament.
The head of community diplomacy stated that the news from the battlefield “is good for Ukraine”, which “is resuming the offensive”.
Instead, he warned that it is the scene of “a conventional war involving a nuclear power, a nuclear power that is currently retreating from the conventional scenario and that threatens to use nuclear weapons.”
“It is a truly worrying scenario in which we have to show that our support for Ukraine does not waver,” he said.
Borrell explained that the Ukrainian forces are advancing on three fronts but recalled that Russia “continues to have numerical superiority and superiority in fire, in power.”
For this reason, he affirmed that the Ukrainian forces are developing an “extraordinarily agile combat tactic, using very powerful intelligence, surrounding the Russian strongholds, creating pockets that end up being destroyed by the Russian army’s own withdrawal”, with which “they limit their losses and are advancing on the ground in a way that no one could have foreseen.”
“The situation of the Russian army is very bad, among other things because the Russian soldiers do not know what this war is for, and the 300,000 who will be taken from their homes to be taken to the front will understand it even less,” he stressed.
Borrell made it clear that the war in Ukraine “can be won on the battlefield”, but defended that “it must be won, above all, in the field of ideas”.
He referred to the fact that, beyond the conflict on Ukrainian territory, a “war for the supremacy of values” is being waged, since Russia “is developing an intense campaign in the world to explain that the consequences of this war are not the war, are from the sanctions that we have applied”.
Faced with this, he urged that the European Union carry out “a great diplomatic effort of explanation so that the world understands why this war”.
The Spanish politician said that the war in Ukraine “cannot end due to the fatigue of the Western world”.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that democracies are weak. That public opinion systems will not withstand a cold winter. He is waiting for the arrival of General Winter, who has always ultimately saved the Russian army,” Borrell said, referring to the fact that the Russian leader “is waiting for the cold, gas supply cuts, high prices and low temperatures undermine our will to continue supporting Ukraine”.
“This is the place to ask Europeans to understand what is at stake”, he emphasized before the European Parliament.
For Borrell, this war “can only end in a way that ensures peace”, with Ukraine recovering its territorial integrity and full sovereignty and with Russia assuming its political and moral responsibilities, paying for the reconstruction and answering for the human crimes committed.
He trusted that the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven, meeting in Brussels, will close a political agreement on the eighth package of sanctions proposed by the European Commission against Russia, which combines sectoral and selective restrictive measures, before the plenary session concludes.