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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday said the region should prepare for the risks of a wider war, and should consider using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine.
“There could be no greater use for that money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live,” she said when addressing the European Parliament.
“We need to move fast,” she warned. “The threat of war may not be imminent, but it is not impossible. The risks of war should not be overblown, but they should be prepared for.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday called on the G7 coalition to unlock $285B in frozen Russian assets “to support Ukraine’s resistance.”
To note, the European Commission is expected to present its sweeping defense strategy as soon as next week.
‘No ground troops’
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters the third year, Western leaders met in Paris on Monday to discuss support for Kyiv, where French President Emmanuel Macron said sending troops to Ukraine had not been “ruled not.”
However, Germany and Poland asserted that European countries would not be sending troops. “We agreed everyone must do more for Ukraine in Paris,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “Ukraine needs weapons, ammunition and air defense… there will be no ground troops from European countries or NATO.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, “Poland does not plan to send its troops to Ukraine.”
“There’s no consensus to send in an official manner troops on the ground,” Macron had said. “But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out.”
French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu later clarified that there is no question of waging war against Russia. “To say that we exclude nothing is neither being weak nor escalatory.”
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that sending troops to Ukraine was not in the interests of Western countries, and it will lead to direct confrontation.
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