MUENSTER, Germany (Reuters) – International partners must continue to support Ukraine as the country prepares to keep up its fight against Russia’s invasion during the upcoming winter months, the European Union’s top diplomat said on Thursday.
“The winter is coming. Putin is waiting for the ‘General Winter’ to come and support the Russian army,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the western German town of Muenster.
“Now, more than ever, we have to support Ukraine, the Ukrainian people. They are fighting, defending their country, and we have the moral duty to support them,” he added.
Borrell said Russian President Vladimir Putin was resorting to attacks on the civil infrastructure because of the setbacks his forces suffered on the battlefield.
“Putin’s Russia is destroying Ukraine. They cannot occupy it, they cannot win on the battlefield, they cannot win the war – and they are destroying the country systematically,” the diplomat told reporters.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Sarah Marsh)
