TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN will attend informal meetings of EU Defence and Foreign Affairs ministers in Spain over the next several days.
The meetings will be hosted by Spain in Toledo, with the first round of discussions to be held today among EU Defence Ministers.
Spain currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The Council of the European Union is made up of EU government ministers who meet to discuss, amend and adopt laws.
EU Defence Ministers will meet today and tomorrow in Toledo, while discussions between Foreign Affairs Ministers will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “Both high-level meetings will provide an important opportunity for coordination of the EU’s response to the latest developments in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in Niger.”
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov is expected to brief EU Defence Ministers on recent developments in Ukraine during the Informal Defence Ministerial.
Representatives of the UN and NATO are also due to attend.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers of both Ukraine and Niger will then join their EU counterparts for their discussions later in the week.
The ongoing war in Ukraine is likely to dominate both meetings.
Tánaiste and Defence Minister Micheál Martin said he is looking forward to the discussions and added: “They offer us an important opportunity to practically coordinate and implement the many different initiatives and assistance measures we are taking collectively.
“We must remain resolute in our commitment to stand with Ukraine and these discussions provide us with an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to Ukraine’s freedom and democracy.”
Martin noted that “Ukraine continues to face enormous challenges in the face of Russian aggression”.
Ukraine yesterday announced that its forces had recaptured the village of Robotyne on the southern frontline, where its troops have focused a counter-offensive against entrenched Russian positions.
Kyiv launched its pushback in June after stockpiling Western-supplied weapons, building up assault battalions and working to degrade Russian positions.
“Robotyne has been liberated. Our forces are advancing southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on television.
Both settlements are in the Zaporizhzhia region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year despite not having military control over it.
Ukraine’s advance on the southern front has been limited, spurring a political debate about whether the offensive is succeeding.
Ukrainian forces are crashing into Russian defensive lines of trenches and minefields that are kilometres deep, and its forces have clawed back just several villages in the south and pressured the flanks of Bakhmut, a war-scarred town in the east.
Malyar said yesterday that Ukrainian troops were advancing south of Bakhmut and that they had recaptured one square kilometre there over the last week of fighting.
She also acknowledged a Russian push to take back territory in the northeast of Ukraine, describing fighting in the Kharkiv region as “very intense” over the past week.
Meanwhile, Martin also expressed concern about Niger ahead of this week’s meeting of the Council of the EU.
Martin described the situation in Niger as “extremely grave” and added that “the EU has made clear its firm condemnation of the coup in Niger”.
“Discussions over the next few days will allow us the opportunity to assess how the EU can be most effective in ensuring a return to democratic government, and support regional leaders in their efforts,” said Martin.
He added: “The EU will continue to provide humanitarian aid and to stand alongside the people of Niger, in particular in its commitment to their human rights.”
A coup last month toppled Niger’s democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum.
Bazoum, 63, was detained, along with his family, on 26 July by members of the presidential guard.
It’s the fifth coup to hit Niger since independence from France in 1960 and it has been condemned by France and most of Niger’s neighbours.
As of yesterday, the French ambassador to Niger was still in Niger despite an ultimatum from the new army leaders to leave his post.
French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that his country would not change position in condemning the coup and offering support to Bazoum, stressing he had been democratically elected and was being “courageous” by refusing to resign.
“Our policy is clear: we do not recognise the putschists,” Macron said, adding that they were “abandoning the fight against terrorism”.
-With additional reporting from - © AFP 2023
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