"Conflict support": how the EU allocates money to victims in Donbass and prepares a military mission in Ukraine

The European Union will provide Ukraine with € 3.5 million (about 290 million rubles) to support victims of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine.

This was stated with reference to the European Commission in the press service of the Ukrainian delegation of the European Union.

“The additional € 3.5 million announced today will help the most vulnerable populations,” the statement said.

It is noted that these funds will allow vulnerable segments of the population to gain access to medicine and basic necessities.

“The EU will support people in eastern Ukraine as long as it takes, but only permanent peace can bring a real solution (situation -

),” said European Commissioner for Crisis Management at the EC Janez Lenarcic.

• European Commission building in Brussels

• Reuters

• © Yves Herman

"A reason to ask for another loan"

At the same time, in early October, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that the EU is considering the possibility of creating a Military Advisory and Training Mission (EUATM) in Ukraine to increase the country's defense potential.

In particular, these plans were discussed in the European External Action Service (EEAS) as "an expression of solidarity with Ukraine."

It was noted that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba and Andriy Taran asked the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell to create such a mission.

At the same time, as experts note, similar EU military training projects are operating in Mali, Somalia, CAR, and since July 2021 in Mozambique.

The messages about the EU mission were confirmed by the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran.

According to him, the EU military advisory and training mission will be deployed by the end of this year.

“The implementation of such a project will allow attracting the best practices and assistance in the process of reforming the military education system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are characteristic of the member states of the European Union.

There are very clear initiatives on our agenda, and the signals that we send to our colleagues from the EU are perceived rather positively.

And the steps that the Ministry of Defense is taking in the course of the military reform are an instrument of rapprochement with the EU, ”Taran said.

He also noted that it is planned to attract 30 permanent advisers from the European Union to participate in the mission.

President of the republic Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke about support for the EU's intentions to create a military mission in Ukraine.

He also thanked Lithuania for actively supporting this initiative.

For his part, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, at a press conference following the Ukraine-EU summit, noted that cooperation with Kiev in the military sphere may relate to the fight against cyber attacks.

“This is Borrell's question.

He is sending a mission that will come to Ukraine, meet with Ukrainian colleagues and consider what common issues we can discuss in the issue of military education with our Ukrainian friends and EU members, ”Michel said.

• Briefing on the results of the Ukraine-EU summit in Kiev

• Reuters

• © Valentyn Ogirenko

A joint statement by Zelensky, Michel and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen following the summit noted the importance of further strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in the field of a joint security and defense policy and bringing the republic closer to the common foreign and security policy of the EU.

“We look forward to Ukraine's participation in the EU military operation Altea and noted Ukraine's willingness to participate in selected projects of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) program.

The EU will explore ways to further support Ukraine's resilience, in particular in the area of ​​professional military education, ”the statement said.

An RT source at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense doubted that any European mission to train the Ukrainian military would have the desired effect.

“The Europeans have not fought for a long time, so what tactics they can share is a big question.

And most importantly - with whom?

Contractors leave the army because of low salaries, and those whom the military registration and enlistment offices managed to catch and are now preparing for possible hostilities, dream of returning to peaceful cities, and not learning military affairs.

So all this is a show, and not real help to the army, which needs professional personnel and equipment, ”he said.

At the same time, the interlocutor of RT clarified that in the case of a mission, we are not talking about direct training of soldiers.

“The diplomats really turned to Brussels for help.

But it is not soldiers who should be trained, but their mentors, ”the Ukrainian politician emphasized.

In addition, according to him, for the deployment of such a mission, the consent of all 27 EU member states must be obtained.

In the Batkivshchyna party, the emergence of a new European mission in Ukraine is considered unlikely, noting that Kiev thus only creates information noise around itself.

“All requests for new missions are an attempt to remind about the“ Russian aggression ”and a reason to ask for another loan.

In Ukraine, a lot of instructors from NATO, the EU, and American military aircraft regularly arrive at Ukrainian airports.

And what is the result?

Ukrainian soldiers continue to fight with old equipment.

The methods of warfare do not change either, ”the deputy says.

"Will contribute to militarization"

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the EU's plans to deploy a military training mission in Ukraine contrary to the Minsk agreements.

“The implementation of this initiative (...) will contribute to the militarization of Ukraine and the escalation of tensions in Donbass.

She will also encourage the authorities in Kiev to further sabotage the Minsk package of measures, ”said the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova.

In this regard, she noted that Russia calls on the European Union to abandon this rash step.

The diplomat also stressed that if, nevertheless, Brussels made this decision deliberately, then the goals of such measures raise questions.

According to experts, the launch of a European military training mission in practice will lead to a new round of escalation of military-political tensions in southeastern Ukraine and will cheer up the "war party" in Kiev, which is openly sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk package of measures. Analysts also believe that Ukraine's appeal for military assistance once again confirms that Kiev is not interested in a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass.

“The discussed military advisory mission is an attempt to bypass the article of the Ukrainian constitution, which prohibits the deployment of foreign military bases on the territory of the republic.

It, in fact, will allow an indefinite number of NATO troops to be on the territory of Ukraine.

Only their presence will be interpreted as some kind of temporary teaching activity that will end sooner or later, although this is unlikely, "Pavel Feldman, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Problems of RUDN University, explained in an interview with RT.

At the same time, he believes that the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine is not in the interests of the European Union.

However, as Feldman reminds, the EU, like Ukraine, is not absolutely sovereign subjects of international relations today.

“Moreover, the Brussels bureaucracy exists precisely to help Washington exercise collective control over all the leading European states.

Even when Germany or France tries timidly to talk about moving towards the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Brussels pulls them off at the command of Washington, ”says Feldman.

• Gas service employees restore damaged gas supply in a five-story building in Yasinovataya, Donbass, damaged by shelling of the city by the Ukrainian military

• RIA News

• © Sergey Averin

Vladimir Olenchenko, Senior Researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shares this opinion.

He also noted that the European Union in one way or another became involved in the situation in Ukraine back in 2014, supporting a coup in the republic.

“In addition, it is necessary to understand that there is a point of view of the European Commission and the European Parliament, and there are those of individual countries.

And support for conflict, as we see, is actively promoting the Baltic countries and Poland, "Olenchenko said in a commentary on RT.

He also suggested that the EU is not fully aware of the fact that when planning military, albeit training missions, they will pay for a new round of confrontation in Donbass from their wallet.

However, the expert noted, since the European Union is still not a monolithic community, not all member states will be in favor of aggravating the conflict in a neighboring state. 

“Still, the EU is a collection of 27 countries, and each of them has its own views on Ukraine and its future.

Moreover, not everyone is interested in it in itself, and not as an instrument of influence on Russia.

Therefore, you need to look at the motives of individual countries, especially those who advocate the creation of such a mission.

But it is unlikely that the same Lithuania and Poland are ready to fully finance a full-fledged military mission in Ukraine, ”Olenchenko said.

Also on russian.rt.com "The same slogans and appeals": how Ukraine and the EU are trying to appoint the Russian Federation as a party to the conflict in Donbass

However, as the expert emphasized, in order to neutralize the effect of supporting the militaristic aspirations of Kiev, the EU allocates symbolic funds for humanitarian aid to victims of the conflict, which itself does not allow to fade.

At the same time, hardly anyone in Kiev can answer the question of where exactly these funds are received in the end, the analyst states.

“If the European Union transfers money to the Ukrainian authorities and at the same time speaks of rampant corruption in the country, it turns out that Brussels itself throws firewood into this fire.

In an amicable way, the EU would have to take into account the needs of the region, requesting data from Donetsk and Lugansk on the number of people affected, what damage was caused, and then purposefully allocate money, ”Olenchenko says.

In turn, Pavel Feldman says that, in general, Kiev received tacit approval from its Western partners to delay the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“For Kiev there is now only one scenario for solving the problem in the southeast of the country - a military one.

And on the eve of the implementation of this scenario, they will build up their military potential, learn from NATO instructors and wait for the moment when it will be possible to carry out a lightning-fast special operation, ”concluded Feldman.