European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “believed he was going to conquer Ukraine” but “he failed”, writes CNN
“He believed he was going to divide us; he failed. He believed that he was going to weaken the transatlantic relationship and he failed. Now he has to stop”, he added while speaking to reporters while entering a summit of EU leaders in France’s Versailles.
Borrell said after European countries reduce dependency on Russian energy exports, “we will be much safer. Have to spend less gas, use less gas, the climate requires that. For once, geopolitics and climate go together”.
European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told reporters that this was “a defining moment for Europe and it is a moment when we see that Putin’s war is a question of the resilience of democracies”.
At the summit in Versailles, “we will rethink European defense with strong capabilities. We will rethink energy. We have to get rid of the dependence of Russian fossil fuels and for that we need massive investment in renewables”, she added.