High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a news conference after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium, February 28, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
Rabat, Morocco — Russia’s announcement of a temporary unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine is “not credible”, the EU’s top diplomat said Friday, labelling it “hypocrisy”.
“The Kremlin totally lacks credibility and this declaration of a unilateral ceasefire is not credible,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Morocco.
“It was Russia that launched this illegitimate aggression,” he said. “When the aggressor talks of a ceasefire, I think the response that comes to us all is scepticism in the face of such hypocrisy.”
The brief ceasefire declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week was supposed to begin at 0900 GMT Friday and would have been the first full pause since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
But artillery exchanges pounded war-scarred cities in the country’s east on Friday despite Putin unilaterally ordering his forces to stop attacking for 36 hours.
Borrell called for “concrete actions on the ground”, including “a complete halt of military attacks”.
“Russia needs to withdraw its troops and military equipment from Ukrainian territory,” he said.
“In the absence of such concrete actions, a unilateral ceasefire seems to be an attempt by Russia to buy time to regroup its troops and try to repair its damaged international reputation.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an agricultural powerhouse, sent world food prices spiralling to their highest level on record for a full year in 2022, UN figures showed on Friday.
Borrell said Russia was using “propaganda” to blame European sanctions for the spiking food and energy prices.
“That’s totally false,” he said. “It’s the Russian army that destroyed the grain silos, planted mines in the fields, destroyed the roads and blockaded Ukraine’s ports.”