the EU wants to reassure kyiv before a summit on its accession – L’Express

⇒ Charles Michel went to Ukraine.

⇒ Russia says it has neutralized drones in the Black Sea and Crimea.

⇒ Wagner is preparing to deliver an anti-aircraft defense system to Hezbollah or Iran.

The President of the European Council Charles Michel came to Kiev on Tuesday to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and assure him of Europe’s unfailing support, before a European summit in December, considered “very difficult”, from which Ukraine expects it will reward his efforts to join the European Union. However, nothing says that the 27 will manage to agree on the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine.

“I will do everything in my power to convince my colleagues that we need a decision in December,” assured Charles Michel during a press conference alongside the Ukrainian president, as part of his symbolic visit , ten years to the day after the start of the pro-European Maidan revolution, which marked, according to Charles Michel, the “beginning of the path towards Europe” for Ukrainians.

“I am not preparing for failure in December. I want to work for success,” he assured. But “the EU is a process, it is under construction, it is based on constant efforts,” he explained to European journalists before his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. In kyiv, however, we emphasize that it is more than ever the time for the 27 to decide before they are taken up by the European elections next June.

Russia claimed on Wednesday to have neutralized four Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea which were heading towards Crimea and destroyed three aerial drones above this annexed peninsula.

“Four unmanned launches of the Ukrainian army, which were heading towards the Crimean Peninsula, were detected in the western part of the Black Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “All targets detected have been destroyed,” according to the same source.

In addition, three Ukrainian aerial drones were destroyed on Wednesday by Russian air defense systems over Crimea, the ministry said in a separate statement, denouncing a “terrorist attack by the Kiev regime”.

The Wagner paramilitary group, at the request of the Russian authorities, “is preparing to deliver an anti-aircraft defense system either to Hezbollah or to Iran,” a White House spokesperson said on Tuesday. Iran for its part “could prepare to take an additional step” in its military assistance to Russia, indicated John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council.

In addition to the drones and other equipment that Washington says it already supplies to the Russian army, “Iran is considering delivering ballistic missiles that Russia could use in Ukraine,” the spokesperson added. As for the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah, it is carrying out a series of attacks against the Israeli army, against a backdrop of war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The United States has been warning for several months about the deepening of military relations between Moscow and Tehran. This cooperation “is obviously harmful for Ukraine, for Iran’s neighbors and for the international order,” said John Kirby.