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Today, the Foreign Affairs Council is approving a new top-up of our military support to Ukraine: €3.5 billion [for the European Peace Facility].

I think that it is more important than ever to continue supporting Ukraine, because what has happened during this weekend shows that the war against Ukraine is cracking Russian power and affecting its political system. We are certainly following closely what is happening, but now is the moment to continue supporting Ukraine more than ever, and that is what we will do. 

Apart from that, in the Council, we will discuss the preparation of the [EU-CELAC] Summit with Latin America [and the Caribbean]. It is something important for the European Union as a geopolitical player. The Ministers will discuss how to prepare this Summit. 

And the third issue is the situation in [the north of] Kosovo, which has also been very high on the agenda these last days.

Everybody is aware of what is happening in Russia. It is important to understand that this is cracking Russia’s military power and affecting its political system. And certainly, it is not a good thing to see that a nuclear power like Russia can go into a phase of political instability. It is also something that has to be taken into account. 

Q&A 

Q. What conclusions can you already draw as the European Union? Did you have to prepare for certain scenarios? 

That is what I said: the most important conclusion is that the war against Ukraine launched by Putin, and the monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him now. The monster is acting against his creator. The political system is showing its fragilities and the military power is cracking. So, this is an important consequence of the war in Ukraine. 

Q. Do you have any information on the whereabouts of [Yevgeny] Prigozhin? 

No, the information I have I want to share it with the Ministers first. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-243179