UPDATE - EU military mission to support Ukraine to be ‘up and running' in November

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - A military assistance mission to support Ukrainian armed forces will be “up and running” in a month, said the EU foreign policy chief on Monday.

“I hope that by the middle of November though less than a month from now, we will have got the mission up and running,” Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg following an EU foreign ministers meeting.

Earlier on Monday, the EU Council agreed to set up a military assistance mission to further support the Ukrainian army.

“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,” an EU Council statement said.

Borrell did not provide details on how the 15,000 troops will be trained but said: “The 15,000 (soldiers) won't be all there at the same time on week one. That's not the aim and they're not going to be trained in a week.”

“But the idea is a minimum length of two years,” he added.

Earlier, Borrell said on Twitter that they will “raise EU military assistance to €3.1 billion ($3.04 billion) & launch the EU military training mission for #Ukraine.”

“Russia’s latest indiscriminate attacks will not shake our determination to support Ukraine, it will only reinforce it," he added.

- EU to send monitoring capacity to Azerbaijan-Armenia border

Borrell also said the ministers green-lighted the deployment of monitors to the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.

“We will deploy 40 monitors on the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan in the next week,” he added. “I am really proud of how quickly we have managed the creation and deployment of this mission.”

Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel welcomed the “rapid deployment of monitoring capacity” in Armenia along its international border with Azerbaijan following a meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Will help build confidence & allow EU to better support border commissions which will convene shortly in Brussels,” he added.

- Message of solidarity, not ‘imperialist, white supremacist’

Asked about his controversial remarks in which he called Europe a “garden” and most of the rest of the world a “jungle,” Borrell said his main aim was to give a “message of solidarity.”

“I am therefore disappointed to hear some of the interpretations that have been bandied around, I reject them totally,” he said. “I think everything I've done in my life is completely against being called a neo-con or anything of that ilk.”

Noting that he rejected earlier interpretations of his remarks, he said: “I certainly do not share the allegation is somehow imperialist, white supremacist or retrograde message far from it.”

“It was meant as a message of solidarity speaking to young Europeans telling them that they have this good fortune,” he added. “I say this to my grandchildren. They are so lucky to live with it in this free, organized world built around economic well-being and social solidarity.”

“But this in turn brings an obligation towards the rest of the world. As Europeans we have to step up to the plate and commit more,” he explained.

In a speech to rookie diplomats in Belgium last Thursday, Borrell said "Europe is a garden," while "most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden."

He also urged against “building walls” around the garden, saying instead, “Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world,” but most commentators charged that his remarks were “racist” and “colonialist.”

- Iran sanctions

Asked about sanctions on Iran, Borrel said: “I assure you that the government of Iran will not like this.”

“It is going to matter to the government because of the political impact,” he added.

He also noted that the sanctions “will certainly not change Iranians' lives, let alone the lives of the protesters.”

“It is how we started a process of manifest disapproval in circumstances like the ones we are seeing in Iran,” he added.

Earlier on Monday, the EU sanctioned 11 Iranian individuals and four entities, including the country's Morality Police over their role in the death of Mahsa Amini and the violent response to the recent demonstrations.