Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski pledged Warsaw's support for Ukraine on December 22 as he met his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev, on his first foreign trip since taking office.
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| Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba at a meeting in Kiev. (Source: zdf.de) |
New Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski affirmed: "... In this fierce conflict, Poland is on your side." In addition, Mr. Sikorski also called on Kiev's allies to mobilize their economies to support the Ukrainian army, which is fighting Russian forces.
“We cannot allow Russia to produce more on the basis of a much smaller economy. Because conflicts are not won by tactical battles, but by production. If the West mobilizes, I have no doubt who will win, but they need to start mobilizing.”
* Meanwhile, on the same day, December 22, the Swiss government announced that the country will join the European Union (EU) in extending sanctions against Russia.
According to the announcement, the measures show that "Switzerland is acting together with the EU in response to Russia's actions towards Ukraine.
The Swiss Ministry of Economic Affairs, Education and Research has imposed additional sanctions on 61 individuals and 86 entities. The additional Swiss sanctions take effect on December 21. However, the announcement did not specify whether Switzerland would impose sanctions in other areas.
Previously, the 12th package of EU sanctions focused on imposing bans on the import of diamonds of Russian origin, as well as imposing additional import and export bans on Russian goods, preventing "circumvention" of sanctions and "closing loopholes" in sanctions.
According to the EC, the ban on direct purchases of non-industrial diamonds from Russia will come into effect from January 1, 2024, followed by a phased ban on indirect imports from September 1, 2024.
* Also on December 22, the European Commission (EC) pledged that Ukraine would receive an additional 500 generators . In the announcement, the EC said that Russia's attacks had damaged Ukraine's energy infrastructure, so an additional 500 generators would be delivered to Kiev, bringing the total number of generators sent to Ukraine to more than 5,500 "to ensure adequate energy supply and maintain the operation of essential services".
The new generators, sourced from EU emergency reserve facilities in Poland, have a capacity of 12.5 to 1,000 kVA and are capable of supplying electricity to entire hospitals in the event of a power outage.
The total value of the 500 generators to be delivered to Ukraine is 16.5 million Euros.
Earlier, the German federal government began rolling out a new aid package to Ukraine worth 6.1 million euros, including generators, heaters and tents.
The Swiss Federal Council also pledged an additional 12.5 million euros to help the people of Ukraine this winter.
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