EU urged not to ease up on Ukraine aid after US vote

LUXEMBOURG

European Union ministers on April 22 said Europe must still speed up its arms deliveries to Ukraine, after U.S. lawmakers eased pressure by unblocking a major aid package.

But at a meeting of EU defense and foreign ministers in Luxembourg there was no sign of more pledges of vitally needed air defense for Kiev.

"We have to step up. It's a crucial time," Latvia's foreign minister Baiba Braze said at the start of the meeting.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday cheered Ukraine and its allies by approving a $61-billion package for Kiev after six months of political wrangling.

"We dodged a historic bullet but, unfortunately, many more bullets are on the way," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

"We can be joyous for a day, but we have to be prepared for the battles to come tomorrow."

While U.S. aid has been stalled, Ukraine has been pleading with its EU backers to ramp up supplies of air defenses desperately needed to repel Russian attacks.

But Europe has struggled to come up with the weaponry needed to keep Kiev in the fight and Ukrainian forces are being pushed back along the front line.

So far only Germany has answered Kiev's call in recent days by saying it would send an extra Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.

"We have been giving a lot of warnings, letters, asking them [EU countries] to see what we can do," said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

"We need more ammunition. We need more launchers."

EU ministers once again heard Kiev's appeals for urgent action when their Ukrainian counterparts briefed them on the dire situation on the ground.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on April 19 that he expected more NATO countries to make announcements on fresh air defenses for Kiev "soon."

Ukraine has asked especially for seven more advanced Patriot systems capable of shooting down Russia's hypersonic missiles, but is keen to get any help it can.

Six nations in the EU, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain, have the U.S.-designed systems.

"What we need is action," said Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren.

"Sometimes you need to talk to get the action and that's what we're doing today."

Meanwhile, Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published on April 22.

Poland, a NATO member and a staunch supporter of Ukraine, shares a border with both Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and with Belarus, Moscow's ally.

"If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, we are ready to do so," Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.

"Russia is increasingly militarizing Kaliningrad. Recently it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus," he added.