Putin is waiting for the “General Winter”, now, more than ever, we have to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Such a statement made the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell after the first day of the Ministerial meeting in Germany.

“Putin’s Russia is destroying Ukraine: they cannot occupy it, they cannot win militarily in the battlefield, they cannot win the war.

They are destroying the country systematically. They are bombing, destroying civilian infrastructure. Millions of Ukrainians no longer have access to electricity, and what Putin is willing to do is to put the country in the darkness in the wintertime.

This is a war crime. We do not need to talk about nuclear threats. Using conventional arms, they are destroying a country, killing civilians, trying to break down the morale of the Ukrainians.

So, we have to reach out to the international community. We have to continue implementing the sanctions against the Russian economy. We have to support Ukraine’s military, as we are doing. The European Union has already allocated €22 billion to support Ukraine - €22 billion. And I am not counting in this figure the military support provided bilaterally by Member States. I am only counting €3 billion from the European Peace Facility and €19 billion are coming from European Union and Member States to support financially, economically Ukraine: providing humanitarian support, providing materials for Ukrainians to be able to support the winter.

The winter is coming, and Putin is waiting for the “General Winter” to come and support the Russian army. Now, more than ever, we have to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. They are fighting, defending their country and we have the moral duty to support them”, - said Josep Borrell.