EU foreign policy chief says Ukraine must not 'slip off' amid escalation of war in Middle East

BRUSSELS

As global attention shifts to the escalating war in the Middle East, Ukraine should not "slip off" the international agenda, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday.

"The war in the Middle East is rapidly widening," she said at a press conference following the Council of Baltic Sea States informal ministerial meeting in Warsaw alongside Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, accusing Iran of seeking to "sow chaos and set the region on fire by indiscriminately attacking its neighbors."

She noted that EU foreign ministers will meet their counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday to discuss the situation and possible next steps.

Addressing concerns that the Middle East conflict could divert military resources from Kyiv, she acknowledged that key capabilities, particularly air defense systems, are in short supply across the West.

Despite the intensifying crisis in the Middle East, Kallas stressed that the ongoing war in Ukraine remains a direct and immediate threat to Europe.

"As the world focuses on the war in the Middle East, we cannot let Ukraine slip off the agenda. Moscow may have lost another ally in Tehran, but the same drones that are hitting Dubai are also hitting Kyiv," she said.

Regarding an Iranian missile heading toward Türkiye that was intercepted, Kallas said there is widespread concern that the conflict is expanding beyond the Middle East.

"Türkiye is able to take down these missiles," she said, noting that NATO member states have mechanisms such as Article 4 and Article 5, while EU members can invoke Article 42.7. However, she stressed that any formal response would require a request from the country concerned.

Sikorski, for his part, said: "Iran is broadening the war to countries that did not attack it, to a NATO country, and to an EU country. There is a well-known saying: 'It is worse than a crime; it's a mistake.'"

Meanwhile, despite US President Donald Trump threatening to cut trade with Spain after Madrid refused US base access for strikes on Iran, Kallas did not mention it.

- Support for Ukraine

Kallas said the EU has agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion (about $104 billion) loan and emphasized that the bloc must deliver on that commitment.

"A broken pipeline should not hold Ukraine's defense hostage," she said, referring to disruptions in oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline, which were halted after a Jan. 27 incident that Kyiv blamed on Russia.

Hungary and Slovakia, however, accused Ukraine of deliberately blocking the pipeline’s restart for political leverage.

Following the suspension of shipments, Budapest and Bratislava halted diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine in response.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accelerate repairs, while Hungary proposed a fact-finding mission to assess the status of the pipeline and said it would accept its findings.

Kallas also called for the swift adoption of the next sanctions package, including a full maritime services ban on Russian oil exports, arguing that rising oil prices are boosting Moscow's revenues.