According to the report, many British Conservative MPs expressed shock at Ursula von der Leyen's comparison.
The report pointed out that Ursula von der Leyen made the above remarks at a joint meeting of the Irish Parliament to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ireland's accession to the European Union.
She said: "I want to talk about the five virtues of Ireland, which will help our alliance face the common challenges in front of us."
Ursula von der Leyen said: "The first is the Irish love for freedom. This country knows what it means to fight for survival. "
She also said: "Today, another European country is fighting for independence. Of course, Ireland is far from the Ukrainian front. But you know better than most why this war is so important to all of us. "
Ursula von der Leyen said: "Just like our friends in Eastern Europe, you know that in Ukraine, the future of more than one country is in danger. Ukraine is fighting for its own freedom, autonomy and rules-based global order. "
According to the report, on the 2nd, Jacob August Chris Mogg, former British Minister of Commerce, Energy and Industrial Strategy, told this reporter: "Ursula Ursula von der Leyen has gone too far, which is not in line with diplomatic etiquette, unwise and wrong. This shows that she knows nothing about history. "
He said: "This also shows the ignorance and tragic failure of the relationship between Britain and Ireland."
According to the report, Davey Jones, vice-chairman of the European Research Organization, also held a negative attitude towards the above remarks. He said: "Someone in the European Commission should gently pull her aside and point out that such thoughtless remarks may have extremely serious consequences."
Craig McKinley, a senior official of the European Research Organization, said: "The comparison made by Ursula Ursula von der Leyen is extremely disgusting. Britain, which has been outside the EU, has led an international alliance against Russia. "
Ursula von der Leyen Source: AFP.
He said: "The relationship between Britain and Ireland was close at first, but it was later resolved through negotiations and treaties." In Brussels, attacking Britain still seems to be popular. "
Extended reading
Ukraine: This is confidential and cannot be published; EU: Oh, yes, no apology.
The European Commission has recently had a little "friction" with Ukraine.
Ursula Ursula von der Leyen, chairman of the agency, said in a speech that 654.38 million Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, while the Ukrainian side said that the death figures were confidential information and should not be released casually. Although Ursula von der Leyen's statement was deleted from the video speech later released by the European Commission, it refused to apologize to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen posted a video on his personal Twitter, saying that in the nine months since Russian troops entered Ukraine, "more than 654.38 million Ukrainian soldiers were killed", adding that about 20,000 civilians were also killed in the fighting.
As a result, this statement by the President of the European Commission aroused strong opposition from Kiev, and Kiev officials insisted that the death toll was "confidential information" and was subject to "release restrictions". RIA Novosti reported that Nichiforov, press secretary of the President of Ukraine, said that Ursula von der Leyen should not release data about casualties of Ukrainian troops, and relevant accurate information can only be released by the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian defense minister or the supreme commander of Ukraine. He said that Ukrainian President Zelensky will release official data at an "appropriate time" because it is sensitive information.
Later, the video of Ursula von der Leyen's speech was re-edited and uploaded, and the expression of Ukrainian death toll was deleted. Dana Spinnert, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, also made a correction on Twitter, saying that Ursula von der Leyen's initial figures were inaccurate, and admitted that the European Commission's figures were obtained from anonymous "external sources", representing the total number of casualties, that is, the number of deaths and injuries, in order to show the "atrocities" of the Russian army.
Twitter screenshot
"Russia Today" said that at a news conference on Thursday, Spinat repeatedly refused to disclose where the European Commission got the death toll, and refused to explain how this information appeared in Ursula von der Leyen's speech. She also said that the EU considers it "unnecessary" to apologize to Ukraine. "We explained the reason and background of this matter on social media."
Regarding Ursula von der Leyen's video speech on Ukrainian casualties, Medvedev accused the European Commission of self-censorship as shameful, and said that it once again showed that the EU was only a puppet of the United States. He wrote on Twitter: "Crazy Auntie Ursula announced to the world on her Twitter account that the Ukrainian armed forces' lost 6.5438+10,000 people'. Subsequently, the message was deleted and cut off. Obviously, Washington asked the aunt to behave and didn't go easy on her. This looks humiliating. There is no EU, only 5 1 country. "
Twitter screenshot
I don't know if it is to dilute the negative impact of Ursula von der Leyen's death data. On Thursday, Podolyak, director of the Ukrainian President's Office, told Ukrainian media that as many as13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia launched a special military operation in February. Podolyak said that this is the official figure of the Ukrainian General Staff, and President Zelensky will release the overall figure to the public "at an appropriate time".
The British "Guardian" said that this is far below the Western estimate of the number of casualties in Ukraine. At some times during the war, Ukrainians claimed that 65,438+000 to 200 soldiers died on the battlefield every day, which made Podolyak's estimate too conservative.
The newspaper also said that Ukraine has been tight-lipped about the number of casualties in its army, saying that it is worried that the disclosure of the total number will bring Russia a military advantage. In August, Valery Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, announced that 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died, which was the first time that Ukrainian officials announced the death toll. The total number of injured people has not been announced. However, Russia Today reported that in late September, Russian Defense Minister shoigu said that by then, the death toll of Ukrainian troops had exceeded 6 10000, ten times that of Russia.