How can Europe support Ukraine?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the Russian delegation's position in the negotiations is becoming "more realistic". At the same time the Russian military has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine. Commentators discuss what support Europe can provide.
We need your weapons
Dzerkalo Tyshnya publishes an appeal by Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk:
“We thank you for the food, money, sympathy and painted blue-and-yellow flags. But if you want to save us, Ukraine needs planes, antiaircraft and antitank missiles, armed drones and other weapons of war. So I beg our friends in the West: Please give Ukraine the planes and weapons it needs. ... When Hitler's forces were converging on Britain in February 1941, Churchill said to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 'Give us the tools and we will finish the job.' That's what Ukrainians ask for today: the tools to defeat a brutal tyrant who has attacked a peace-loving, free democracy because it is a free democracy.”
Launch a lend-lease programme
Aftonbladet joins the call for more help for Ukraine:
“This paper has previously written that the EU and the US could create a so-called 'lend-lease' programme with Ukraine. This model dates back to the Second World War, when the US lent money and materials to Britain and others to fight against Hitler. This would allow Ukraine to buy what it wants with borrowed money without the EU or Nato going to war. Afterwards, if necessary, we can write off the loans.”
The conflict must not be escalated
Žurnal24 calls on its readers to stay calm despite the justified anger over Putin's aggression:
“Slovenia is a member of Nato and the EU and it is important that we unanimously help Ukraine so that its people suffer as little as possible. But not by devastating them even more, expanding the conflict and reducing our own quality of life. Together we are strong, and together we will be safe from an attack as long as the hysteria does not lead to an escalation of the conflict. For the first time in history, the EU has reached a consensus and responded with decisive action. It must now be careful not to get bogged down.”
Don't give in now
The least Europe can do now is to endure the sanctions, says Jutarnji list:
“Just as the Ukrainians have shown undreamt-of resistance and determination in recent weeks, Europe and the entire West must now see the sanctions through to the end. While the Europeans feel the effectiveness of the sanctions in the room temperature or the difference in the price of petrol - a situation that is by no means easy - the Ukrainians are paying with their lives, separation from their loved ones and a destroyed home. ... If the West holds out to the end, it will win. If Putin succeeds in dividing it again, the EU will not only remain a political dwarf but will languish as a rich bloc that is blackmailed by everyone.”
Ukraine as we knew it will no longer exist
Geopolitics expert Lucio Caracciolo paints a bleak picture of Ukraine's future in La Stampa:
“Ukraine as we have known it until now will no longer exist. First and foremost because of the lack of Ukrainians. When the country gained its independence there were 52 million, at the beginning of the Russian aggression there were only about 35 million. Tomorrow there will be a few million less, considering the massive number of refugees. Then there is the reduction of the territory. It is inconceivable that the Russians will accept anything less than the confirmation of the annexation of Crimea, the independence of the (de facto Russified) republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and a number of corridors to connect the two territories snatched from Kyiv.”