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EU’s Borrell, in Kyiv, Says Bloc Is Preparing Long-Term Security Pledges

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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EU’s Borrell, in Kyiv, Says Bloc Is Preparing Long-Term Security Pledges

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support.

"Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster," he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed "continuous EU military assistance" during his first in-person meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

"We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine," Borrell added.

Umerov, whose appointment by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was approved by parliament on Sept. 6, thanked Borrell in a statement on X for "continuous support" and said the meeting was "a starting point for great cooperation."

He said their discussions of EU military aid to Ukraine covered "artillery & ammunition, air defense, EW & long-term assistance programs, trainings, and defense industry localization" in Ukraine. EW is an acronym for electronic warfare.

This week the European Defense Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks.

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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.
On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Overall deaths rose 58% compared to last year, the report added, according to The Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The organization compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead. April and May were the deadliest months, the report said.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a “sharp increase” in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canary Islands.
In February, Spain pledged 210 million euros (around $218 million) in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and prevent boats from taking off.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57, 700 migrants reached Spain by boat until Dec. 15 this year, a roughly 12% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority of them came through the Atlantic route.