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EU needs to ‘rearm more quickly’ to meet its targets as Russia ‘not interested in peace at all,’ Kallas says – summary
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EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has warned that “Europe needs to rearm more quickly and more effectively to meet our target of 2030,” with a “decisive change” in its approach to defence (12:55).
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Briefing reporters after talks with EU defence ministers, Kallas also said they started having discussions on a new “emergency security protocol” which could help coordinate response to any incident falling below the Article 5 of Nato, amid growing concerns about acts of sabotage or aggression from Russia (12:58, 13:02, 13:16).
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Kallas also said that Russia’s behaviour following talks with German foreign minister last week shows that “Russia is really not interested in peace at all.” (13:07).
Key events
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‘This is an attack on science,’ director of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences says after Russian drone strike
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‘Several’ workers potentially missing after drone strikes Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv
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Poland to change rules to allow fighter pilots to shoot down foreign aircraft detected by radar
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‘Russia will face a response to this,’ Zelenskyy says, after strike on Kyiv kills at least one person
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‘Loud explosion’ in central Kyiv after Russian drone alert
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EU needs to ‘rearm more quickly’ to meet its targets as Russia ‘not interested in peace at all,’ Kallas says – summary
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‘These talks show that Russia is really not interested in peace at all,’ Kallas says
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EU discusses ‘new emergency security protocol’, Kallas says
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EU needs to ‘rearm more quickly’ to meet its 2030 targets, Kallas says
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‘This is an attack on science,’ director of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences says after Russian drone strike
Pjotr Sauer
in Kyiv
Anatoly Zagorodny, director of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, said the blast struck while many staff members were inside the building.
Standing outside the burning academy, he said he feared some of his colleagues might still be inside. Officials have confirmed that one person was killed.
Zagorodny said he did not know why Russia had targeted the academy, a leading Ukrainian centre for research.
“We are not connected with the military. This is an attack on science. It is terrorism,” he said.
‘Several’ workers potentially missing after drone strikes Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv
Pjotr Sauer
in Kyiv
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer is in Kyiv near the building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which was hit by a Russian drone today.
He reports:
“Director of the academy Anatoly Zagorodny told me they still haven’t been able to reach several workers that remain missing.
Rescue operations were temporarily paused as firefighters had to evacuate after another drone in the area.
Poland to change rules to allow fighter pilots to shoot down foreign aircraft detected by radar
Neighbouring Poland will allow its fighter planes and helicopters to shoot down foreign aircraft detected by radar under special wartime defence measures, its deputy defence minister said, AFP reported.
Such a change will allow “the pilot or the operational commander to make a decision to shoot down a foreign aircraft on the basis of radar readings or other information that enters the system”, minister Cezary Tomczyk said.
This will replace “the standard in peacetime”, where opening fire requires visual identification, rather than on the basis of radar readings or other relevant information, AFP said.
It is the latest step to raise the Nato and EU member state’s defences as the war in neighbouring Ukraine drags on into its fifth winter and allies warn of a rising threat of Russian drones.
One night last September some 20 Russian drones violated Poland’s airspace in one of the most dangerous incidents of this type in recent years.
‘Russia will face a response to this,’ Zelenskyy says, after strike on Kyiv kills at least one person
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just responded to the strike on Kyiv.
In a post on X, he said:
“A Russian strike against the building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. A rescue operation is underway: crews are putting out the fire and searching for people who may have been trapped inside. All services are deployed.
Today in Kyiv, a pharmaceutical company and gas stations were also attacked; in Dnipro, a business center; and in other cities and regions, civilian facilities, businesses, and communications infrastructure were targeted as well. Sadly, people have been killed… My condolences to their families and loved ones.
Russia will definitely face a response to this.
And every one of Ukraine’s partners must see from this terror, from these strikes, that supporting Ukraine means truly supporting people’s lives – supporting the principle that terror must never be normalised, anywhere. Russia must be held accountable for all of this and face real consequences. I thank everyone who helps Ukraine!”
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and at least three were injured in the strike.
‘Loud explosion’ in central Kyiv after Russian drone alert
Just as Kallas was speaking, Reuters snapped on “a loud explosion” in the central part of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, which the city administration said was caused by a Russian drone.
AFP identified the building hit as the National Academy of Sciences, stressing it was “the latest in a series of escalating attacks on the Ukrainian capital.”
“The site is in the very centre of Kyiv – usually well protected from Russian attacks – close to the German embassy, a famed cathedral, the national opera and government buildings.”
EU needs to ‘rearm more quickly’ to meet its targets as Russia ‘not interested in peace at all,’ Kallas says – summary
-
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has warned that “Europe needs to rearm more quickly and more effectively to meet our target of 2030,” with a “decisive change” in its approach to defence (12:55).
-
Briefing reporters after talks with EU defence ministers, Kallas also said they started having discussions on a new “emergency security protocol” which could help coordinate response to any incident falling below the Article 5 of Nato, amid growing concerns about acts of sabotage or aggression from Russia (12:58, 13:02, 13:16).
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Kallas also said that Russia’s behaviour following talks with German foreign minister last week shows that “Russia is really not interested in peace at all.” (13:07).
Kallas also gets asked about what the new proposed “emergency protocol” would actually mean or do that isn’t already covered by the EU’s Article 42.7 or Nato’s provisions in Articles 4 and 5.
She says that she is in touch with Nato’s Mark Rutte to make sure there is “no duplication.”
She explains that Nato’s Article 4 (where countries can request a discussion “whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened”) is “just consultations” with no specific actions, while Article 5 (“an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”) is “very clear” on its military implications.
The new protocol would focus instead on “what tools can be used at the moment of aggression that is not armed aggression, and is under the threshold of Article 5,” she says.
And that ends the press conference.
Kallas also gets asked about the dire situation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
She says:
“It clearly shows what happens to the people in the occupied territories.”
She says the EU is “trying to get the humanitarian aid in,” and working to “help Ukraine to defend itself and its people,” including through work on “the largest listing of sanctions” to date.
‘These talks show that Russia is really not interested in peace at all,’ Kallas says
EU’s Kallas also responds to German foreign minister Johann Wadephul’s talks with Russia’s chief diplomat, Sergei Lavrov on the margins of the UN week.
She says there was many countries outside Europe that seem to believe that simply talking to Russia would resolve all problems.
“These talks show that Russia is really not interested in peace, at all. Otherwise you don’t treat your negotiation partner … this way,” she says in response to Lavrov’s comments ridiculing Germany after the meeting.
She continues:
“Russia needs to show, by stopping the attacks on civilians, that they are interested in peace, which they are not.
And then they need to talk to Ukraine because it’s between, Ukraine and Russia. Everybody else can facilitate this process, but in the end, they need to agree.”
Asked about the details of the new protocol, Kallas says it was “the first discussion on it, very initial,” with further talks needed.
“So, clearly, there were some who were saying that, that we need some kind of mechanism for anything under the armed aggression threshold, which is Article 42.7 [of EU treaties], but many stressed that it has to be absolutely complimentary with Nato, so we do not create anything additional; this has to work hand in hand.”
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