The head of the European Council called for a conference of donors for Ukraine | News from Germany about Europe | DW

Against the backdrop of the threat of a Russian military invasion of Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel called on the West to increase financial support for Kiev and, in particular, to hold donor conferences for Ukraine. Moscow is wrong if it expects to weaken the West and Ukraine, Michel said at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, February 20. He again warned Russia about “large-scale sanctions” threatening it for the escalation of the conflict with Ukraine.

The head of the European Council recalled that the EU had already created a 1.2 billion euro assistance package for Kiev. At the same time, he called for even closer integration between Ukraine and the EU.

Opening the third and final day of the Munich Conference, Charles Michel announced the need for a tougher dialogue between the West and Moscow. “We can’t offer an olive branch forever while Russia is conducting missile tests and continuing to raise troops,” he stressed. Meanwhile, it remains a question whether the Kremlin wants dialogue, Michel further noted.

Escalation of the crisis on the border of Ukraine and Russia

The Munich Security Conference is taking place against the backdrop of a sharply aggravated crisis associated with the threat of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For the first time in many years, the Russian delegation is absent from it. After the heads of the self-proclaimed “DPR” and “LPR” distributed video messages about the evacuation of the population to Russia, residents of Donbass began to be brought by bus to the Rostov region. Metadata in Telegram shows that the messages presented as relevant were recorded two days earlier.

Over the past 24 hours, the OSCE SMM recorded more than 1,500 ceasefire violations. US President Joe Biden is confident that the Kremlin has already decided to invade, including intending to capture Kiev. On the same day, general mobilization was announced in the “DNR” and “LNR”, and Luhansk separatists on February 20 announced the death of two civilians as a result of Ukrainian shelling. According to Western intelligence agencies, about 150,000 Russian troops are stationed in the regions along the Ukrainian border. Moscow says it is not planning an attack.

See also:

• A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS

  In December 1991, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus documented the collapse of the USSR. Moscow apparently hoped to maintain influence through the CIS and cheap gas supplies. But it turned out differently. The Russian Federation and Belarus created a union state, Ukraine increasingly looked to the West. In the photo: Leonid Kravchuk, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich during the official founding of the CIS in Almaty.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Legacy of the USSR and the Budapest Memorandum

  Ukraine inherited from the USSR almost a million strong army and the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Kiev refused the missiles, handing them over to Russia in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees (Budapest Memorandum of 1994). While the West did not reciprocate Kiev and was not going to integrate it into its structures, the reaction of the Russian Federation was restrained. In the photo: Russian and US leaders Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Cracks in Post-Soviet Friendship: Tuzla Conflict

  The first major diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Kiev occurred under President Putin. In the fall of 2003, Russia suddenly began building a dam in the Kerch Strait towards the Ukrainian island of Tuzla. Kiev considered this an attempt to redistribute borders. The conflict was resolved after a personal meeting of the presidents. Construction was stopped, but the first cracks appeared on the facade of friendly relations between the two countries.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Orange Revolution 2004

  In the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004, the Russian Federation actively supported the pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych, but the Orange Revolution prevented him from winning amid accusations of fraud. Pro-Western politician Viktor Yushchenko became president. His victory became the starting point for changes in the policy of the Russian Federation, designed to prevent what Moscow calls “color revolutions.”

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Shutting off Ukraine’s “gas valve” in the 2000s

  During Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency, the Russian Federation twice shut off Ukraine’s “gas valve” – ​​in 2006 and 2009, which led to interruptions in transit supplies to Europe. In the photo: a Gazprom employee at the Sudzha gas measuring station, 200 meters from the Ukrainian border, Kursk Region, Russia, 2009.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The promise of NATO membership

  The key event happened in 2008. At the NATO summit in Bucharest, US President George W. Bush tried to get Ukraine and Georgia to receive a Membership Action Plan (MAP). Putin sharply objected, making it clear that he did not fully recognize the independence of Ukraine. As a result, Germany and France blocked Bush’s plan. Ukraine and Georgia were promised NATO membership, but no date.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Ukraine’s course towards the European Union

  It was not possible to move quickly towards joining NATO, and Ukraine set a course for economic rapprochement with the EU. In the summer of 2013, the Russian Federation began to exert massive pressure on Kiev, almost cutting off Ukrainian exports at the border. The Yanukovych government has suspended preparations for signing an association agreement with Brussels. Soon protests began in Ukraine, in February 2014 Yanukovych fled to Russia.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Russian annexation of Crimea

  A power vacuum emerged in Ukraine, in March 2014 Russia annexed Crimea. This was a turning point, the beginning of an undeclared war. Pictured: Russian military in Crimea (Simferopol, March 2014).

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  War in Donbass

  At the same time, Russian and local paramilitary structures provoked an outbreak of separatism in the Donbass, “people’s republics” were proclaimed in Donetsk and Luhansk, which were led by people who had come from the Russian Federation in unmarked uniforms. Kiev reacted slowly, waiting for the presidential elections at the end of May 2014, and only then decided on a large-scale use of force.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Birth of the Normandy Format

  In early June 2014, in France, at events marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met for the first time with his Russian counterpart Putin through the mediation of the leaders of Germany and France. This is how the “Norman format” was born.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  “Ilovaisky cauldron”

  In the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian army began to push back the separatists, but at the end of August, Russia, according to Kiev, used its army on a large scale in the Donbass. Moscow denies this. The peak of the conflict was the defeat of the Ukrainian forces near Ilovaisk. The war along the entire front line ended with the signing of a ceasefire in Minsk in September, which was quickly broken.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Positional war continues

  In early 2015, the separatists went on a broad offensive. Kiev accused Moscow of using an unmarked army, the Russian Federation denied everything. Ukrainian forces were defeated near the city of Debaltseve. Then, with the mediation of Germany and France, “Minsk-2” was signed, an agreement that still remains the main document for the settlement of the conflict. None of its points has been fully implemented.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The concentration of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine

  In 2021, there was a new aggravation. Russia twice, in spring and autumn, drew up its troops to the western borders. Ukrainian and Western intelligence reports about the threat of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. To defuse the situation, a series of international negotiations took place in the West. However, the Russian Federation demands guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO and lets know that it is not going to withdraw troops yet.

  Author: Roman Goncharenko