Europe signs security deal with Ukraine as row breaks out over Ukrainian refugees | DW News

Europe signs security deal with Ukraine as row breaks out over Ukrainian refugees | DW News

We Begin the day with their shared security the European Union and Ukraine have signed a joint security agreement it’s meant to assure support for Ukraine in the future as it continues its battle against Russia the deal includes existing EU initiative such as training of Ukrainian soldiers but there are also long-term commitments such as supplying Ukraine with artillery and air defense systems a further firm show of support from the European Union to Ukraine the signing of a security pack between the Ukrainian president and EU leaders it is the eu’s spelled out promise to support Ukraine for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed the security commitments covers the military the financial The Diplomatic and in particular it will be the way of channeling the resources coming from Russia frozen assets Ukraine promised reform for example in the area of security intelligence and defense vomir Sensi joined the National heads of EU States and governments at their Summit to argue that everything is put to work immediately against Russia’s fullscale invasion of his country we will’ll discuss today with the leaders with leaders about it our next steps and of course uh the urgent things air defense that is one and of course all that packages thanks to all the partners what we had signed it or accept it but we need them urgently on the battlefield earlier this week the 27 country block announced €2.4 billion e in military a for Ukraine to be delivered by the end of the year coming from the profits of Russian assets ceased in Europe talks on Ukraine joining the EU also officially got underway this week though the accession negotiations could take years or even decades to conclude well the joint Security deal with the European Union could become Ukraine’s most important insurance policy in a worst case scenario worst case would be losing massive military and economic support from the United States following a trump win in November’s presidential election War rages in Ukraine 27 months after Russia’s Invasion Ukraine’s been running short of soldiers am and money President Vladimir zilinski has been trying to fix that and generate commitments for support after the war is over traveling relentlessly to sign security agreements he’s met with Western leaders across Europe in recent weeks zansky has signed 17 bilateral deals so far Germany agreed to a 10-year security agreement pledging equipment including air defense missiles as well as help reild building once the conflict is over France signed a similar 10-year deal helping with training sending jet fighters military vehicles and missiles but also promising to help Ukraine against future attacks and to reform its institutions in Belgium zalinski secured pledges for dozens of F-16 Fighters This all came as Ukraine’s biggest backer the US also signed a 10-year deal guaranteeing military assistance the deals with individual countries are meant not just to beef up Ukraine’s military but also to strengthen cooperation preparing the way for membership one day in NATO and the EU the block and its member countries have already provided support worth nearly $10 billion since the war started for Ukraine the stakes couldn’t be higher no longer how long the war lasts it will eventually need to rebuild it shattered infrastructure and make sure it can deter attacks in the future well I’m joining Now by K rudik from keev she’s a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and she is leader of the political party holos K it’s good to have you back on the program your president president zalinski and the European Union they’ve now signed a joint security Accord this looks good on paper but what about on the battlefield what’s more important right now weapons or these grand gestures that are coming from Brussels hello Brent thank you so much for having me well the answer is both are important and they are related because uh these are not only gestures those security agreements they have actually uh the essence and this Essence is to get uh our Ukrainian soldiers more weapons and supplies and this is the number one in all the security agreements that President zalinski signed same as in the security agreement between Ukraine and EU to get us weapons and to quote president uh to get all the political promises executed this is what we really really need the rest of the things are very important but though they are secondary uh because the main thing that uh we as politicians need to get to our people is the weapons to fight with to have as many chances as we can in winning the war let me ask you about the war zalinski he was at the the front line only yesterday he says that the Russian offensive in harif shows that International pressure on Moscow is not strong enough so what should European countries what should the EU be doing that it’s not doing well first of all to get us all the weapons as I said the second second point is to provide us with uh very much necessary Patriot missile systems and other air defense systems so we can protect our cities and we can help our soldiers fighting at the front and the third point is sanctions if Russia is able to produce weapons and supplies it means they are able to buy Technologies and particles that they are not supposed to be able to do and this means the sanctions are not working as well as they were supposed to there are some loopholes and they need need to be closed there needs to be a way of getting Russian assets that are being frozen in the European Union in total we have moved very far in the matter using their uh percentages the profits of these assets but we need to strip Russia of their money and make sure that we are using them for good to stop Russia and these are all the points that are um listed in the security agreement and this is actually in plain words what president zalinsky was explaining to our partners that we are so grateful for everything that is being done but to get the result Russia’s defeat we need to have more things done right now let me ask you about your country and possible membership in the European Union Ukraine’s top EU negotiator says that the process of Ukraine’s session to the EU is irreversible and that it represents the will of the Ukrainian people I can imagine that you would agree with that statement but I mean how do you quantify that uh as of right now we know that more than 80% of ukrainians uh support Ukraine’s accession to EU and around this number also supports our accession to Nato and uh this will is very important because it reminds us that the war did not start in 2022 it started in 2014 when people expressed their will to join European union and uh not to remain connected to Russia and right now we are in the process of actually executing on their will moving our country as close as possible to be EU members and I think um within this last two years we have made a progress that no one ever would have believed in have done it let me be advocate for a moment here um let’s could these EU membership talks could they backfire could they make it easier for Vladimir Putin to end the war and not give back territory in eastern Ukraine um I do not see how that would be happening uh the recent polls again in Ukraine are showing that people are uh willing to fight and are against giving up on many territories and uh uh the EU talks they uh demand reforms from us that we are willing to do but they never demand us giving up the territories president was very clear and I think there’s a Unity right now within the Ukrainian politicians and also people on the matter okay worst case scenario before you before you run out of time Donald Trump becomes US president in November US military aid for ukra dries up pressure from Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump grows for you to accept the partitioning of your country what role will this security commitment this joint security commitment with the European Union what role will it play then we hope that it will be executed much earlier and we will by that time receive much more weapons that we are getting right now and most important air defense systems yeah potential change in the United States as U an opportunity for us so I wouldn’t be that pessimistic on the matter all right well yeah you have to be you have to be an optimist if you’re going to be in politics that is for sure Kira rudik a member of the Ukrainian Parliament K as always we appreciate your time appreciate you speaking with us this evening thank you well have they worn out their welcome should unemployed Ukrainian refug refugees here in Germany be allowed to stay well some German conservative party lawmakers say no they should go home but ukrainians say they want to stay and they want to work but they claim German bureaucracy is getting in their way hello than you Alexis’s been working as a technician in a Berlin hotel since 2022 shortly after he fled Ukraine it’s a job he’s overqualified for but glad to have for me work means that I can be a real citizen in this city I do my bet for the economy is in the minority around 22% of the working age Ukrainian refugees in Germany have a job now Alexander Durand a senior figure in the conservative opposition is calling for unemployed Ukrainian refugees to be sent back he’s been widely condemned this is really sheer populism on the backs of mothers who fled the Russian attack with their small children it’s Al bova’s job to help those very people get jobs in Germany she finds doin’s statement problematic you shouldn’t put them all under blanket suspicion in my opinion all ukrainians have become an object and these are different cases different people some are quicker on the labor market others are slower on the labor market some learn German quickly others more slowly Billy cover helped oi find his job she says there are other hurdles from Child Care to Long waits for ukrainians to have their qualifications recognized by German authorities if we didn’t wait so long or didn’t take so long to process or if we found quicker models to enable Nursery School teachers to work quickly in kindergartens then we would have seen much faster labor market entries oi knows this too well he trained as an accountant in Ukraine but has been waiting for months for his diploma to be recognized I want to develop myself and if my experience as a technician isn’t enough then I’ll try working as an accountant it’s people like him that the economy is crying out for and the mood among the Ukrainian Community is that with a few tweaks to the system that could lead to more oik Seas I spoke early about this with Fabian funka he’s a member of the German Parliament for the governing social Democrats he told us what he thinks of the proposal to send Ukrainian refugees back to their country if they don’t find work here in Germany I think this statement is a shame for Germany and also a shame for a party that holds Christianity um also in their name and I think when you look at the Ukraine you see that they’re every night flying thousands of missiles um to the towns to also civil object I think it’s Our obligation to help our neighbors on there and also to help people coming here and of course also help them to find a job but in this situation where this is all happening um talking about sending them back I think would be totally wrong and it’s something that plays Putin also in his hands it’s true however that roughly a million of the roughly 1 million ukrainians who came to Germany because of the Russian invasion uh only about 20% of those have found work uh how do you explain that I think firstly when you look at those numbers you have to see who these people are we have a lot a lot of people fleeing from UK Ukraine that are old you have a lot of people fleeing from Ukraine that are Solo mothers with little CH little children and so I think it is really important that we make the preis also for those people getting able to work and I think this is where we need to get better to bring more also Ukrainian refugees into work to have like child care for them to be able to also have their diplomas ready for use in Germany and I think these are things that we needs to be done and also with the measures we’ve taken in the last months we did a lot also to up this numbers of people working here from Ukraine and I think this will also be successful in the future now your party leads Germany’s government I’m just wondering what sort of level of employment among the Ukrainian refugees would you like to see and why has your party not managed to get more Ukrainian refugees into the labor market yet firstly I I don’t I’m not really sure if like making a number out is really important because these are all individual people and have to look Case by case how to help these people getting into work I think it needs to be a lot more even then when you look that the old people who stay longer in Germany and I think this is obvious and um therefore yeah we need to do a lot we need to do a lot more in integration and also when comes to providing language courses when it comes to providing child care all those things needs to be done and of course it is a big challenge when one million people in such a short time from one country come to another and therefore it is really hard German is the country with the most people from Ukraine um fleeing here and so yeah I think we did a lot in the last 12 and 24 months but I think it needs to be a lot more done when it comes to making those people able to work and um also having them access to the infrastructure that they need now immediately after the War Began uh in Ukraine the German government waved the requirement for ukrainians to apply for Asylum and automatically gave them the right to stay in the country and receive unemployment benefit can this continue Mr funka do you think even if the war goes on for years to come when we look at the definition what are refugees for us then these are people fleeing from war um and other stuff and I think nobody would doubt that there’s war in Ukraine and also I would deeply not share the view of Alexander doin saying there are like secure parts of Ukraine in Western Ukraine when you look how the war is fought and you see all those missiles drones and things flying to civil infrastructure also in Western Ukraine and therefore I would think there’s no doubt right now that there is war in Ukraine and I think that we should care also about the people fleeing from war fleeing from our neighboring country um Ukraine and therefore I would really say that everybody that says it is safe in Ukraine uh should really go there by himself and see it themselves how the situation there is because it is the case that this help and this are still necessary to take these people here Mr funka thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today that was German lawmaker Fabian funa

The joint security deal with the European Union could become Ukraine’s most important insurance policy in a worst-case scenario. Worst case would be losing massive military and economic support from the United States following a Trump win in November’s presidential election.

Chapters:
0:00 Joint security agreement
4:06 Kira Rudik, Ukrainian member of parliament
10:23 Row over Ukrainian refugees staying in Germany
10:28 Fabian Funke, German SPD party member of parliament

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