• Ukraine conflict is “a fight for the unity of Europe”.
• Protecting these ideals also requires a willingness to “accept significant disadvantages,” he said.

BERLIN: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described on Sunday the conflict between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine as “a fight for the unity of Europe.”

In a speech he gave in the city of Paderborn in western Germany, he said, “We must not let ourselves be divided, we must not let the great work of a united Europe that we have begun so promisingly be destroyed.”

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“This war is not just about the territory of Ukraine, it is about the double shared foundation of our values and our order of peace,”  he explained.

But protecting these ideals also requires a willingness to “accept significant disadvantages,” he said, without providing specifics.

“Are we ready for that? We are all facing this question — today and in the days, weeks and months to come,” he added.

“Russia is not only questioning the borders, it is not only occupying the territories of an independent and sovereign neighbouring state, it is even challenging the statehood of Ukraine,” he stated.

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