Ukraine's Foreign Minister to European counterparts: Peace in Europe will depend on speed of weapons delivery
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister, has called on his European counterparts to accelerate weapons and ammunition delivery to Ukraine, as European security depends on it.
Source: Kuleba, on the European Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, 24 April, writes European Pravda with reference to the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine
Quote: "Russia’s defeat is a guarantee of a normal life in Europe. There is no goal that would be more important at the moment. To achieve it, Ukraine needs more weapons and ammunition, and it has to be delivered as fast as possible," the Minister said.
Details: Kuleba emphasised that the side which has better logistics and supply will have more chances to be victorious in this war.
He called on his European counterparts to accelerate the supply and ensure a defining advantage for Ukraine over Russia on the battlefield.
"We have a shared strategic goal: to ensure peace in Europe for the future generations. This aim is now determined by the speed of taking crucial decisions and their implementation. We should get rid of all paper barriers. Overcome all bureaucratic procedures. Accelerate all processes. To do away with any kinds of latency on the way between decisions to supply arms and their arrival on the border of Ukraine," the Minister asserted.
Kuleba also noted the short-term, medium-term and long-term necessities of the Ukrainian army.
He has urged the allies to supply Ukraine with more armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery systems, long-range artillery and ammunition as fast as possible, strengthen Ukraine’s air and anti-missile defence, integrating it with neighbouring EU countries, as well as immediately begin the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets and find a possibility of supplying the country with West-produced military aviation.
When it comes to medium-term necessities of Ukraine, the Minister called on his European colleagues to expand the capacity of logistic and repair hubs, to continue and widen training programs for Ukrainian soldiers, to cover the demand in ammunition by increasing production volumes.
In a long-term planning for the upcoming years, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister called on the European ministers to focus on developing joint defence policy, which will include Ukraine as an integral part.
Before the meeting of the Foreign Affairs ministers of the EU member-states, EU’s High Representative of the Union of Foreign Affairs Joseph Borrell admitted the persistence of opposing views when it came to the second phase of the union’s plan to supply Ukraine with more ammunition.
The second phase entails financing joint procurement of ammunition by the EU member-states for EUR 1 million, but it is not finished yet. The EU countries agreed on buying ammunition from companies in the European Union and Norway, which has tight connections to the EU. But according to the diplomats, France insists on including solely EU member states in the procurement plan.
France’s position on the issue has irked other members of the union, including Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. They voiced scepticism in regards to the European industry’s ability to produce the needed amount of ammunition and satisfy Ukraine’s demand in a short period of time.
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