Borrell: Russia's military actions in Ukraine can be described as 'failure' and 'horror'

EU High Representative Josep Borrell has said that Russia's aggression against Ukraine can be described as a big failure of Russian troops and the horror of what they left behind in the temporarily occupied territories.

He said this after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, April 11, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Russian aggression against Ukraine has two words to be qualified. First, failure. It is a big failure of the Russian army. They tried to conquer Kyiv and they have been rejected. Now they are abandoning Kyiv. They see that it is impossible for them to take the capital and they are regrouping their troops in the East," Borrell said.

According to him, Ukrainian forces are convinced that Russian troops are going to launch a big offensive in the Donbas, nearby their logistic bases. The EU and some member states continue to provide assistance to Ukraine so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine can withstand the enemy with dignity.

"The second word is horror. What the Russian army left behind are civilians killed, cities destroyed, indiscriminate bombing - as the one we saw on the railway station [in Kramatorsk]. We are very worried by the human consequences of this war. Mariupol is a martyr city," Borrell said.

He stressed that what is going to happen in the Eastern front makes the EU much more ready to continue supporting Ukraine to face this battle.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities and residential neighborhoods of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles, and air bombs.

Photo: Laura Celmiņa, Ārlietu ministrija