Borrell

The European Union's top foreign policy official has accused his top diplomats of being slow, inefficient and condescending to the countries they work in, also blaming them for failing to foresee Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian reported.

"Gone is the world where the US provides our security and China and Russia our progress". This was stated by the High Representative of the EU for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, at a meeting in Brussels with the heads of the EU representations around the world.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Borrell: "EU countries do not have enough weapons"

EU countries' arms stocks are severely "depleted" after weapons were sent to Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has warned.

The meeting is also attended by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, and the EU Special Representative for Dialogue, Miroslav Lajak. The media reports that the U.S. Special Representative for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, entered the building of the European Service for Foreign Affairs in Brussels shortly before noon.

The conflict in Ukraine has made it clear that soft power is not enough so the European Union needs to become a military power, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on arrival at an EU summit on Tuesday.

In his address to the members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Josep Borrell pointed out that Brussels would try to coordinate activities with other EU members in order to organize a diplomatic presence in Kabul.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that the accelerated deployment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan showed that the European Union needed to speed up efforts to build a common defense policy, Reuters writes.

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday had a telephone conversation with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, regarding the attack on the ship Mercer Street, a conversation initiated by Aurescu in continuation of the political and diplomatic steps undertaken by Romania so far.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said it was a "forgery".
Stano told "Klan Kosova" that such a document did not come from Brussels. "Usually, we do not comment on media reports regarding alleged EU documents. In this particular case, the document is a complete forgery and the EU has never written something like that," Stano said.

The European Union should support Turkey for hosting more than four million refugees, the EU's foreign policy chief said on March 18. 

Josep Borrell made the remarks after visiting the command center of Operation Irini, the EU initiative to implement a UN arms embargo on Libya.