The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said this Tuesday that he was “in shock” at the US Congress’ impasse in approving military aid to Kiev and predicted that Russia would attack another country if it triumphs in Ukraine.
“What really matters and what shocks us is that the decision has not yet been adopted. We are approaching the end of March and discussions continue”, said Dmytro Kuleba, in an online ‘briefing’ for the foreign press in Kiev.
The head of Ukraine’s diplomacy was referring to a military aid package estimated at around 60 billion dollars (55 billion euros), which has been blocked for months by the radical wing of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives this year. United States electoral campaign and when Ukraine tries to contain the advances of a superior Russian Army, soldiers and weapons and ammunition.
Dmytro Kuleba estimated that “American help will arrive” in the end, saying that it is a matter of “confidence in the United States’ ability to support countries that respect the same rules and principles that they defend around the world”.
The minister said that Kiev does not rule out the idea put forward by the Republican candidate for a return to the White House, Donald Trump, that US aid be converted into loans instead of donations, but wants to know the details.
These statements come one day after a visit to Kiev by an ally of Trump, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who supports the former American President’s proposal to grant aid to Ukraine in the form of zero-interest loans.
At your briefing today in Kiev, the Ukrainian minister once again warned that he “has no doubt” that Russia will launch an attack against another country if it triumphs in Ukraine, which is why he called on allies to translate messages of political support into a greater shipment of weapons, as he considers it to be international stability is at stake.
Kuleba warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has just been elected to a fifth term until 2030, is guided only by “expansionist logic and ambition”, and if he is successful in the invasion he launched in Ukraine in February 2022, will attack other European or Central Asian countries.
“He wants to restore the influence of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire, at the expense of ‘international law, borders and rules,’ he added.
In the diplomatic sphere, Kiev has hopes pinned on a peace summit taking place in Switzerland, with no date yet, because, according to Kuleba, dates are being synchronized with the agendas of the invited leaders, noting that the situation on the combat front “remains tense”.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy highlighted that Russian war tactics are “brutal” and that Moscow’s forces have an “advantage in the skies”, which is why Ukraine demands “more and faster military aid” from its partners: “We received a lot support from Europe and the United States, but at the front we don’t see many weapons”, he lamented.
Among the priorities are air defense systems and longer-range missiles to be able to effectively attack Russian installations and command posts located in the occupied territories.
Kuleba also referred to “drones”, “the new heroes of war” that “will never be enough”, despite Ukraine planning to produce more than a million unmanned devices this year alone, after creating a branch of the armed forces only for the management and use of these devices.
The Ukrainian minister also resorted to an argument based on “very simple mathematics”, in the sense that “whatever the price of helping Ukraine, the price of waging a direct war [com a Rússia] It will be much, much bigger.”
He further noted that European partners have taken the initiative to “significantly” increase both their own military production and weapons purchases from third countries to help Ukraine and “cover the gap” left by the political debate in the United States.
