Urgent.. European Union foreign ministers discuss strengthening Ukrainian air defenses

European Union foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss strengthening Ukrainian air defenses and expanding sanctions on Iran.

The ministers are also scheduled to discuss the war in Sudan, but most of their focus will be on the conflicts taking place on the bloc’s doorstep. East and south in Ukraine and the Middle East.

As Russia escalates its air attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets, the governments of the 27 European Union countries are under pressure to provide Kiev with more air defense systems such as Patriot missiles.

Kiev and its European allies received a major boost at the weekend when the US House of Representatives approved a package worth more than $60 billion to help Ukraine confront Russia.

But European Union foreign policy official Josep Borrell and the Secretary-General NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg urged European countries to intensify their efforts to supply Ukraine with weapons, especially air defense.

After a video conference of NATO defense ministers with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, Stoltenberg said he expected an announcement soon. He added, “NATO has identified the capabilities that exist in all NATO countries, and there are defensive systems that can be made available to Ukraine.”

He continued, “In addition to Patriot missiles, there are other weapons that the allies can Providing them, including the French SAMP-T system, which is a medium-range ground-to-air defense system.

So far, Germany is the only member state of the European Union that has announced that it will send an additional Patriot system in response to Ukraine’s recent calls.

The ministers will be joined by their defense counterparts in the Ukraine-related talks on Monday, in addition to the Ukrainian foreign and defense ministers, before they turn to discussing the crisis in the Middle East.

Sanctions on Iran

< p>According to a Reuters news agency report, the ministers are seeking to reach an agreement on the extent to which sanctions should be imposed on Iran, following the attack launched by Tehran with drones and missiles on Israel about eight days ago.

The Union applies The European Union already has multiple sanctions programs on Iran over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights violations, and the provision of drones to Russia.

European Union leaders agreed last week to impose more sanctions on Iran. Many European Union countries have called for expanding the sanctions regime related to drones.

Diplomats say that European Union countries will also consider whether to impose new sanctions related to missile production.