Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said this Monday that he has managed to “coordinate positions” with the European Union ahead of the technical negotiations scheduled for November 10 and 11 with Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), under the mediation of the United States.
As he explained, he held a telephone conversation with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in which he stressed that “they are doing everything possible to ensure that the trilateral format delivers results.”
“I spoke with the President of the European Commission. At this moment, many of our cities and communities are dealing with a very difficult situation because of attacks on electricity, water and heating supplies. The situation is more difficult in Kyiv, Dnipro, Sumy, Donetsk and Kherson,” the Ukrainian leader lamented when describing the impact of Russian attacks on the civilian population.
In that call, Zelenski indicated that “I told her what the challenges are and we agreed that the European Union would activate a special emergency mechanism. This will make it possible to quickly provide funds to Ukraine for what is most needed right now. Our teams are already working on this.”
The Ukrainian leader added that they also addressed “additional energy and humanitarian assistance” with a view to winter, as well as “issues related to European integration.” “It is important to begin closing chapters,” he stressed regarding the process of Ukraine’s rapprochement with the EU.
For her part, Von der Leyen, who has begun a tour of several countries that will take her to Romania and Bulgaria, described the conversation with Zelenski as “good.” The head of the EU executive defended that the EU will be involved in the Abu Dhabi contacts and reiterated her call for a ceasefire that “covers food and energy infrastructure.”
“I look forward to meeting with President Zelenski in Dublin later this week and discussing the next steps toward peace with other leaders,” he said, before insisting that “freedom of navigation in the Black Sea must be restored and preserved.”