INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The European Union signaled its long-term support for Ukraine on Monday as its foreign ministers convened in Kyiv for a historic first
gathering outside the bloc's borders.The meeting came as disagreements grow among EU members over support for Ukraine and as Kyiv's forces
make limited gains in a high-stakes counteroffensive against Russian troops."We are convening in a historic meeting of the EU foreign
ministers here in Ukraine, candidate country and future member of the EU," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a
statement.The purpose of the meeting was to "express our solidarity and support to the Ukrainian people," he said, acknowledging that the
gathering "does not have the aim of reaching concrete conclusions and decisions."Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the
discussions as an important signal of European support."For the first time ever the foreign affairs council is going to sit down outside of
alongside Borrell.The EU's 27 nations have remained broadly united through the 19 months of war on their support for Ukraine, hitting Russia
with 11 rounds of sanctions and spending billions of euros on arms for Kyiv.'Lasting support'But there are growing fears of cracks appearing
within the bloc as concern also rises over the support of key backer the United States.Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the EU, could now
be joined by Slovakia as a potential block to more backing as populist Robert Fico pushes for power in Bratislava after winning elections
meeting was a signal to Moscow of the bloc's determination to support Ukraine over the long term."It is a demonstration of our resolute and
lasting support for Ukraine, until it can win," she told reporters."It is also a message to Russia that it should not count on our fatigue
We will be there for a long time to come."The Kremlin, which anticipated a lightning-fast takeover of Ukraine, is counting on Western
countries tiring in their support for Kyiv, and predicted Monday that fatigue over Ukraine "will grow."'Winter protection plan'Germany's
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for the creation of a strategy to insulate Ukraine from the fallout of a feared campaign of
Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid in the coming months as temperatures drop."Ukraine needs a winter protection plan of air defense,
generators and a strengthening of the energy supply," she said in Kyiv."We saw last winter the brutal way in which the Russian president
wages this war, with targeted attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants."Ukrainian authorities say Russia has launched
systemic aerial attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a strategy that last year left millions without heating or water.The foreign
ministers of Hungary, Poland and Latvia did not attend the summit, a Ukrainian government official told AFP on condition of anonymity
The Polish and Latvian representatives were ill, the official said.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February
2022 and his army swept quickly through large swathes of the south and east of the country but were beat back from the north.In June, Kyiv
launched a long-awaited counteroffensive but has acknowledged slow progress as its forces encounter deep lines of heavily fortified Russian
defenses."With every village, every meter that Ukraine liberates, with every meter where it is saving its people's lives, it also paves its
the south, critically wounding a civilian and two police.Police also said a civilian was killed by Russian fire in the nearly encircled town
of Avdiivka in the war-battered Donetsk region in the east.Separately, Kyiv's intelligence service said that Ukraine's drones at the weekend
had struck a plant that produces cruise missiles in the western region of Smolensk.
