'Unity of the European Union' key in support of Ukraine

People carry a giant Ukrainian flag to mark the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in Vilnius, Lithuania. Picture: AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

The Swedish Government, which has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, has said that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is “aggression against us” and “in, a sense, is our war”.

Speaking online at an event organised in Dublin, the Swedish State Secretary for EU Affairs, Christian Danielsson said that the most important element for Sweden’s presidency was to sustain the “unity of the European Union” in its support of Ukraine.

He said that as the union marks the “tragic commemoration” of Russia’s war on Ukraine, there was now a discussion within the EU in terms of ensuring there is a supply of ammunition for Ukraine, which, he said, was a matter of difficulty for the country.

Addressing the Institute for International and European Affairs, the secretary said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the security landscape.

“The Russian war against Ukraine is not just an aggression towards Ukraine, but it is an aggression against us. The war that Ukraine is fighting is, in a sense, our war.

“It is a war about protecting or defending democracy, defending rule of law and international law and also a war of standing up against that kind of aggression that we would have hoped would not exist in Europe in the 21st century.” 

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Mr Danielsson said the most important issue for their presidency was to “keep the unity” of the European Union, which, he said, had been astonishing since the war began.

He said the EU's support for Ukraine takes the form of humanitarian support, economic support, military support and political support.

He said Sweden’s presidency was focusing on the next round of sanctions against Russia, which they hope to have ready by Friday, progressing the legal work to ensure Russia takes responsibility for its war crimes and developing work on freezing Russian assets.

On the back of Dutch military concerns that the Russian navy was targeting cables and energy infrastructure in the North Atlantic, Mr Danielsson said the Swedish Government was very concerned about this threat, but said the EU was not itself tackling this problem, saying it was more an issue for Nato.

He said the EU was working on threats in the areas of cyber security and hybrid security and conducting defence research, all of which would be complimentary to the work of Nato.

He said migration was also a security issue, not least because of a “substantial increase” in irregular migration.

“Some of [these people] have the right for international protection, many of them have not,” he said, adding that this had led to a strong wish among member states to strengthen external borders.

He said this would also involve greater efforts to target organised crime groups involved in trafficking and irregular migration.