EU’s Borrell, in Kyiv, says bloc is preparing long-term security pledges

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support.

“Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster,” he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed “continuous EU military assistance” during his first in-person meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

“We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine,” Borrell added.

Umerov, whose appointment by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was approved by parliament on September 6, thanked Borrell in a statement on X for “continuous support” and said the meeting was “a starting point for great cooperation.”

He said their discussions of EU military aid to Ukraine covered “artillery & ammunition, air defense, EW & long-term assistance programs, trainings, and defense industry localization” in Ukraine. EW is an acronym for electronic warfare.

This week the European Defense Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks.