Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis is in Kyiv today for the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers.
"Foreign George Gerapetritis arrived today in Kyiv to attend the EU Foreign Affairs meeting - a strong EU message of solidarity with Ukraine," the foreign ministry wrote in a tweet.
📍 Κίεβο
Ο ΥΠΕΞ Γιώργος Γεραπετρίτης συμμετέχει σήμερα στη Συνάντηση των Υπουργών Εξωτερικών της ΕΕ στο Κίεβο - ένα ισχυρό μήνυμα αλληλεγγύης της ΕΕ προς την Ουκρανία https://t.co/LfyHUO6Ca8— Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών (@GreeceMFA) October 2, 2023
The EU’s foreign affairs ministers and chief diplomat Josep Borrell meet Monday for a special session with their Ukrainian counterpart — but instead of Dmytro Kuleba coming to Brussels or dialing in, this time they’ve gone to Ukraine.
"We are convening a historic meeting of EU foreign ministers here in Ukraine, candidate country and future member of the EU. We are here to express our solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people," Borrell said Monday.
"The fact that this Foreign Affairs Council is coming to Ukraine is a message in itself,” showing that Ukraine is moving closer to EU accession, Kuleba told POLITICO's Brussels Playbook in a phone call.
“The message is that Ukraine is becoming a member of the European Union, the process is taking place right as we speak and hold these meetings," Kuleba added, underlining that he expects "to open accession talks by the end of the year."
There's hope the EU-Ukraine talks on Monday yield tangible results. In particular, Kuleba mentioned the European Peace Facility — the pot of money that finances weapons contributions for Ukraine, and which needs an urgent refill as Kyiv fends off Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion.
Hungary has been blocking the next €500 million tranche for months, but Kyiv said a deal has now been reached.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had stymied the aid in an effort to force Kyiv to remove a Hungarian bank from a list of so-called war sponsors. Ukraine’s name-shaming list of “international sponsors of the war” listed OTP — Hungary’s largest commercial bank, which has millions of customers in Russia and is accused of recognizing the so-called people’s republics in Ukraine's occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.
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