Kallas: Russia is using winter as a weapon
BRUSSELS – The attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine show that Russia is failing to win on the battlefield and is using winter as a weapon, said High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on Thursday.
“Russia is not making the slightest effort toward peace. Their attack on a passenger train was a war crime, just as the attack on civilian infrastructure, such as energy infrastructure, hospitals, schools, residential buildings, was a war crime,” said Kallas, adding that Russian forces are using winter as a weapon because they are failing to advance on the battlefield.
The European Union has responded with its largest winter aid package so far, and just today it secured 500 generators, the High Representative emphasized.
Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said after the meeting that Croatia is seventh in the world in sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine when calculated as a share of GDP, fifteenth in total aid, and fourteenth in military aid.
Grlić Radman announced that on April 21 a working meeting will be held in Luxembourg following the initiative he launched together with his Swedish colleague Maria Malmer Stenergard for the EU and member states to coordinate assistance to Ukrainian veterans in their reintegration into civilian life.
Kallas said that she is proposing the establishment of a working group that would coordinate assistance in securing the energy Ukraine needs. (January 29, 2026)
