EU Ministers agree to train Ukrainian soldiers as part of new mission and warn Iran of new sanctions

The Council today agreed to set up a Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine). The aim of the mission is to contribute to enhancing the military capability of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to effectively conduct military operations, in order to allow Ukraine to defend its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, effectively exercise its sovereignty and protect civilians. #eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #PUTIN #war #EuropeanUnion #Borrell #putinswar #Russia #Ukraine #war In response to Ukraine’s request for military support, EUMAM Ukraine will provide individual, collective and specialised training to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, including to their Territorial Defence Forces, and coordination and synchronisation of member states’ activities supporting the delivery of training. EUMAM Ukraine will operate in the territory of the EU member states and will have its Operational Headquarters within the EEAS in Brussels in order to ensure overall coordination at the strategic level. Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, the Director of the Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) within the EEAS, will be the Mission Commander. The mandate of the non-executive mission will initially last two years, and the financial reference amount for the common costs for this period will be EUR 106 700 000. The mission will ensure coordination with member states’ bilateral activities in support of Ukraine, as well as with other like-minded international partners, and will be open to participation of third states. In its conclusions of 23-24 June 2022 the European Council stated that the EU remained strongly committed to providing further military support to help Ukraine exercise its inherent right of self-defence against the Russian aggression and defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty. To that end, the European Council called on the Council to swiftly work on a further increase of military support. In a letter to the High Representative, on 30 September 2022, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence of Ukraine jointly requested military support, and confirmed that Ukraine’s needs in that regard include individual and collective (up to brigade level), as well as specialised military training. Some European Union foreign ministers on Monday called for new sanctions against Iran if Tehran’s involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine is proven. Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented. “We will look for concrete evidence about the participation [of Iran in the Ukraine war],” Josep Borrell told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, adding Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba would take part in the gathering. The EU could decide to move towards imposing new sanctions against Iran over the matter, according to two diplomats involved in preparing talks among the ministers, though no detailed decisions were expected on Monday. Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said the EU should react strongly to new air attacks on Kyiv where drones struck buildings near a central railway station during rush hours on Monday morning. “What we can see now: Iranian drones are used apparently to attack in the middle of Kyiv, this is an atrocity,” Kofod said, saying the EU had to take “concrete steps" in response to that, as well as Tehran cracking down on protesters at home. The bloc is already set to impose on Monday travel bans and freeze the assets of some 15 Iranians involved in a government crackdown that began last month against demonstrators outraged by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. France and Germany, both parties to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, have made it clear they believed new sanctions in connection to the drones used by Russia were necessary given that such transfers violated a resolution by the UN Security Council. Additional EU sanctions on Iran will not be limited to blacklisting some individuals should Tehran’s involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine be proven, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said. “Then it will be no longer about some individuals to be sanctioned,” he told reporters as he arrived for the EU meeting. #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی #حنانه_کیا #Mahsa #Amini #europeanunion #eudebates #eudebate #Iran #iranian #iranprotests #irani #Raisi #Baerbock #Germany #Mahsa_Amini #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی