The pro-Kremlin media took Josep Borrell’s quote out of context. In fact, the diplomat had no doubts about the prospect of the war ending in Ukraine’s favor and did not admit Russia’s victory over the Ukrainian forces.
“The EU has officially credited Russia’s victory over Ukraine,” is how the Russian media reacted to the words of the EU’s chief of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, about the Russian regime’s prolongation of the war in Ukraine. Taking Borrell’s remarks out of context, pro-Kremlin outlets began to claim that the European diplomat “stated that it is absolutely impossible for Ukraine to get a victory over Russia.”
The disinformation about the “official recognition of Russia’s victory by the European Union” in the Russian media appeared after the speech of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. During the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Malaga on November 11, Borrell said that EU countries should be ready to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
Borrell did indeed say that Ukraine’s victory over Russia “is not immediate,” a statement that was promptly picked up by the pro-Kremlin media outlets, taking it out of context. At the same time, the Russian media omitted a large part of the European diplomat’s speech that followed this phrase: Borrell did not express any doubts about the prospect of the war ending in Ukraine’s favor and did not recognize Russia’s victory over the Ukrainian defense forces. The head of European diplomacy was talking about the importance of further support for Ukraine.
“The greatest security guarantee we can give Ukraine is to make it a member of the European family. But for that, we must remain united and prepare for a longer conflict than Russia thought and which Russia can never win, but whose end it can delay. Because Putin’s regime has become addicted to war, it needs war… He believes that democracies are weak and will falter and we cannot prove him right. We have to continue to support Ukraine,” Borrell emphasized.
The head of European diplomacy noted that the full-scale war in Ukraine has been going on for more than a year and a half – much longer than Russia expected, which planned to seize the country in two weeks and establish its own puppet regime, similar to the Belarusian one. Borrell emphasized that, contrary to dictator Putin’s expectations, Ukraine has not only not fallen, but is regaining its territories. This was made possible by Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Kremlin regime and the support of its allies, Borrell said. Thus, the EU High Representative emphasized, Ukraine is the EU’s top priority and the work to support the country should continue until it wins the Russian war.
StopFake has repeatedly refuted Russian fakes about the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ resistance to Russian aggression. Read more in Fake: Zaluzhny Calls Ukraine’s Counteroffensive a Clown show, Fake: Zelenskyy is Disappointed With The Course of Counteroffensive, Fake: Ukrainian Counteroffensive Will Suffer a Crushing Defeat.
