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In an interview with France 24, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged France and President Emmanuel Macron to describe the “atrocities being committed” by Russian forces in Ukraine as “genocide”. Macron recently refused to use the term, a decision Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “very painful.”
From kyiv, Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia had carried out missile attacks on several cities, including the capital, during the night of Friday, April 15. He rejected the idea that this was in response to the sinking of the Moskva, Russia’s flagship missile cruiser in the Black Sea, saying Russia did not need a reason to attack as it has been waging war against Ukraine for weeks, he said. the.
Kuleba refused to formally confirm that the sinking of the Moskva was caused by a Ukrainian missile attack, but said Ukraine was “not afraid of hitting targets that pose a threat.” The minister also said that Putin “has to be defeated by all means: militarily, politically and economically.”
According to Dmytro Kuleba, the alleged crimes committed by Russia in the southeastern port city of Mariupol were even worse than those seen in Bucha, and that Russia was covering up evidence of their crimes by using mobile crematoria.
The future of warfare will be decided ‘on the battlefield’
The top diplomat admitted that the attacks on civilians were “complicating” the talks with Russia and said that the current negotiations “had not progressed”. He added that Putin is now focused on a military solution and that the future of the war will be decided “on the battlefield” and not at the negotiating table.
The foreign minister asserted that Ukraine is now seeing “increasingly advanced weapons” delivered by the United States.
He especially welcomed the delivery of “NATO standard artillery units” and urged other alliance members to do the same. He welcomed Germany’s historic decision to send weapons to Ukraine, but said “they can do much more,” urging the government to allow the supply of heavy weapons.
Kuleba welcomed France’s decision to move its embassy back to kyiv and asked Paris for more weapons. He added that France gave him the impression that he would be in favor of an oil embargo on Russia at the EU level.
“It’s time to change the French approach to Russia”
The Ukrainian foreign minister said that the policy of some European countries, which had stated before the war that it was crucial to continue talking with Putin, had failed.
“We ask Berlin and Paris to reconsider this policy. It is time to take a strong stance against Putin and his country. This is not the time to seek to please him. It is time to change the French approach to Russia.”
Asked about the disagreement between Presidents Zelensky and Macron over the use of the term “genocide” to describe events in Ukraine, Kuleba said it was time for France and its president to call what is happening “genocide.”
Macron had recently refused to use the term, a refusal that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “very painful.” Kuleba assured that “in the end, the atrocities that Russia is committing will legally qualify as genocide.”
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