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The EU's top diplomat stated on Wednesday that Ukraine's ongoing Kursk operation has delivered a “severe blow” to Vladimir Putin's war narrative. Josep Borrell also called for the lifting of self-imposed Western restrictions on Kyiv's use of imported weapons inside Russia.
Borrell's remarks came two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his request for partner countries to allow the use of Western-made long-range weapons deep within Russia to stop Moscow's advance in eastern Ukraine.
Writing on X after a discussion with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Borrell described the Kursk offensive as “a severe blow to Russian President Putin's narrative.”
He went on to argue for the lifting of restrictions on the use of Western weapons on Russian soil:
“Lifting restrictions on the use of capabilities vs the Russian military involved in aggression against Ukraine, in accordance with international law, would have several important effects:
1) Strengthen Ukrainian self defense by ending Russia’s sanctuary for its attacks and bombardments of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
2) Save lives and reduce destruction in Ukraine.
3) Help advance peace efforts.
As I conveyed to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the EU fully supports Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. I look forward to meeting him in Brussels and to a discussion with EU Foreign and Defence Ministers next week, to move forward in our support to Ukraine.”
EU foreign and defence ministers are slated to have back-to-back meetings in Brussels on August 29 and 30.
Two and a half years into the full-scale war, Kyiv regained the initiative on August 6 by launching a surprise cross-border offensive into Russia's western Kursk Region, claiming the capture of dozens of settlements and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee the area.
As of August 20, data from Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations showed that more than 122,000 residents have left the Kursk Region’s nine border districts (where the total population barely exceeds one million).
On the same day, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, claimed that Kyiv was in control of 93 settlements in the region, having captured an area of 1,263 square kilometers (488 square miles).
According to a report by the Russian state-run news agency TASS, which cited regional medical services, as of the morning of August 21, thirty-one people had been killed and another 143 were injured as a result of the ongoing battles in the region. “Seventy-nine people, including four children, have been hospitalized,” a source told the agency.
Cover photo: Josep Borrell giving a speech at the European Parliament in 2019. Source: European Parliament; CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2019