Sunday’s Coverage: Hard-Right Republicans and Trumpists Threaten US Aid to Kyiv

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1853 GMT:

Speaking after the meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers in Kyiv, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said:

The topic that was a leitmotif in all the speeches was Ukraine’s membership in the EU. We are moving forward, we expect a decision to start negotiations on membership by the end of the year.

Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin, has threatened that it will block the discussions.

Kuleba said, alongside EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell:

The content and ambience of the discussion showed that we speak as a family…We have one goal and today in Kyiv it was powerfully demonstrated.

We have not been offered anything, but Ukraine is a first-class state and we are not satisfied with anything but first-class membership.

It’s just a matter of time. Both Ukraine and the European side are determined to move forward as fast as possible, taking into account all the reforms that Ukraine has been, is and will be implementing.

Borrell said:

We have been talking about the security commitments that we want to provide to Ukraine, showing our determination to stand by Ukraine in the long term.

And for sure the strongest security commitment that we can give to Ukraine is European Union membership. This is the strongest security commitment for Ukraine. Now Ukraine is a candidate country, and he is going further on his way.

Borrell said Ukraine’s accession was all or nothing, rejecting any phase-in of membership over years.

Some officials, including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, have suggested that Ukraine could enter the single market before full membership.

But Borrell said, “What is this talk about partial membership? Half membership? 25% membership? Membership is membership. Full stop. Do you want me to repeat it? Membership is membership full stop.”

UPDATE 1848 GMT:

The toll from Russia’s overnight shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine (see 0556 GMT) has been raised to two killed and 10 injured.

There were 71 attacks, including on residential districts, shops, and medical infrastructure.

UPDATE 1139 GMT:

UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps has pulled back from his weekend statement that the Royal Navy could help defend commercial vessels running a Russian blockade in the Black Sea.

Shapps had indciated that he discussed the issue with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week in Kyiv, tu he said at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference on Monday, “I don’t think that was a conversation [we] had with President Zelenskiy.”

On Sunday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak withdraw Shapps’ signal British trainers could be deployed inside Ukraine to give instruction to Kyiv’s forces (see 0518 GMT).

UPDATE 0730 GMT:

In its first-ever meeting outside European Union borders, EU foreign ministers are gathering in Kyiv on Monday.

Alongside EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the “historic event”: “A message of support, the unfettered support that the EU is extending to Ukraine, which we’re very much grateful for.”

Borrell said EU ministers will consider the Ukraine Peace Formula promoted by President Volodymyr Zelensky, “This is the kind of brainstorming that we need to do among us — and together with [Ukraine] — in order to look at the situation of the war against Ukraine, how the EU is supporting Ukraine, and how we will continue to do that.”

He emphasized the symbolism of the meeting with “the commitment of the European Union to continue to support Ukraine in the war of aggression of Russia”.

UPDATE 0556 GMT:

Overnight Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine has killed at least one person and injured six, including two children.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, including on residential districts, shops, and medical infrastructure.

UPDATE 0518 GMT:

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stepped back from a commitment to send British trainers inside Ukraine to give instruction to Kyiv’s forces.

Defence Minister Grant Shapps, who met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told a British newspaper over the weekend after discussions with military commanders, “I was talking…about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.”

But hours after the comment was published, Sunak told reporters:

What the Defence Secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine.

But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Speaking on Ukraine’s Day of Defenders, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pledged that “victory will come” against Russia’s 19-month invasion.

Invoking a history in which the country was often part of Russia or the Soviet Union, Zelenskiy assured:

Never again will Ukraine pay with the future of its children, its sovereignty and its will for illusory promises of peace….

Nowadays, modern generations of Ukrainians – you and all those who are now defending our state and people, our freedom and independence – have the opportunity to accomplish more than we have managed before.

The European Union’s foreign policy head Josep Borrell was among those who joined Ukrainians for ceremonies.