Ukrainian Foreign Minister speaks about details of negotiations with allies on supply of Patriots

Ukraine hopes to agree on supplying seven additional Patriot air defence system batteries as soon as possible, and is considering borrowing them from other countries.

Source: European Pravda; Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, in an interview with The Washington Post  

Details: Dmytro Kuleba explained the change in Ukraine's tone in receiving air defence from Western partners by saying, "nice and quiet diplomacy didn’t work." He expressed the hope that his new style of tough diplomacy would help make a breakthrough. 

"Yes, people may hate me, and I may ruin the relationship. The other part of me is saying diplomacy is all about private relations. But then I told that part to shut up, and the part of me that wanted to speak out started speaking up. We’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work," the minister explained.

He also explained that the change in tactics was caused by Russia's missile attack on Kyiv in late March, when the sounds of explosions were heard less than a minute after the air-raid warning was issued. 

The foreign minister said his team found over 100 "available" Patriot missile batteries, including those from neighbouring countries. At first, he focused on getting seven batteries as quickly as possible. 

In addition, Kuleba says that Kyiv found four countries in Europe and Asia with Patriot, which can be immediately transferred to Ukraine. At the same time, he continues to ask the United States to hand over its batteries amid the blocking of a US$60 billion aid package in Congress. 

The foreign minister said he even offered countries to provide Ukraine with Patriot for temporary use, promising to return the batteries as soon as they asked. 

"I feel myself hitting the wall with my own head, although I’m a diplomat, and that means I have to dismantle the wall brick by brick. But since this kind of diplomacy doesn’t work, I feel like hitting the wall.. I just don’t understand why it’s not happening," Kuleba shared in an interview with The Washington Post. 

Background:

• Strengthening the Ukrainian air defence system was one of the key topics of conversations with the partners of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during his trip to the fields of the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels last week.  
• As the NATO Secretary General said at the time, some NATO allies had promised to look for air defence systems for Ukraine.

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