EU High Representative Kaja Kallas hopes to move quickly with the EUR 40 billion military support initiative for Ukraine, which has broad support among EU member states.

She said this in Brussels on Monday following the meeting of the European Council on Foreign Affairs.

“First on Ukraine, there is broad political support for defence initiative of EUR 40 billion. Of course, right now the discussion is in the details,” the High Representative said.

She recalled that at the European Council the leaders instructed “to move swiftly with this initiative.” “We have done some more work on this, so hopefully we'll be able to really move on, because everybody understood around the table that we should really show our resolve right now and support Ukraine so that they can defend themselves,” Kallas explained.

According to her, the foreign ministers of the EU member states also discussed the results of the negotiations between Ukraine and the United States in Jeddah. “Everybody welcomed the results of the Jeddah talks, and now, of course, the ball is in Russia's court, and what we see right now that Russia doesn't really want peace, and also what was understanding around the table is that Russia can't really be trusted. So, they will seize this opportunity to present all kinds of demands, and what we already see, they are presenting demands that are their ultimate goals, so let's see how this develops further,” the High Representative explained.