Germany, Belgium reaffirm support for Ukraine

BERLIN (AA) - Germany and Belgium will continue to provide military support to Ukraine and work on new sanctions against Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Scholz renewed his call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to immediately cease all combat operations, and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.

“We’re in agreement with Alexander De Croo that we should do everything to support Ukraine, including the delivery of weapons. And with regards to sanctions, we’re willing to identify further measures,” Scholz said.

The chancellor expressed Germany’s support for closer ties between the European Union and Ukraine, but stopped short of backing a fast-track EU membership for Kyiv.

Recalling French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea of establishing a 'European Political Community,’ which would include Ukraine and non-EU countries, Scholz said “new forms of partnerships” can be possible.

“Ukraine is part of the European family,” Scholz stressed, and said such partnerships can be useful to bring democratic countries of Europe together.

De Croo also backed Scholz’s view, and argued that EU membership is a long, administrative process, which could easily take more than 10 years, and could be frustrating for Ukraine.

He argued that there are also other ways to strengthen closer ties between the EU and Ukraine in the short term.

“These are two different things. It is something else than the enlargement process,” he said. “One does not exclude the other but one does not have to be linked with the other either.”