Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has had a phone conversation with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to discuss the security situation in Ukraine and possible measures against Russia, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2022) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has had a phone conversation with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to discuss the security situation in Ukraine and possible measures against Russia, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Each country of the European Union should understand that, however high the price of containing Russia, the price of preventing a new war will be higher. The sole right strategy is to exercise firmness and to act jointly with Ukraine," Kuleba said.
According to the statement, the diplomats discussed a new set of measures on "containing" Russia, including new "hard sanctions" from the EU against Moscow in the event of further escalation.
Borrell told Kuleba that only a "robust deterrence package" can contain Russia, as quoted in the Ukrainian ministry's release. The top EU diplomat asserted, as quoted in the press release, that Russia's major objective in Ukraine, among other things, is the country's "destabilization from within, aimed at hindering its economic and financial processes." He reassured Kuleba that the EU will continue supporting Ukraine.
The Ukrainian minister said that the situation remains under control despite a "heightened level of threat," and added that there is� no cause for alarm or instability within the country.
In December, Russia presented draft proposals on security guarantees in Europe to the United States and NATO. On January 10, Russia and the US held a round of the strategic stability dialogue in Geneva, followed by the first NATO-Russia Council since 2019 in Brussels on January 12 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe talks in Vienna the next day. Russia-Ukraine relations were high on the agenda during talks.
