In the European Union, more and more alerts are being sounded about the Russian threat. But two years after Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal (Lviv, 48 years old), is clear in pointing out that the Kremlin is already carrying out a hybrid war in the EU countries. , with cyber attacks and other activities. On a visit to Brussels, where he met with the leadership of the community institutions, he also warned that this year is crucial for the EU – the European Parliament holds elections in June – and also for Ukraine, which hopes to maintain support Still echoing the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron, who assured that sending soldiers to Ukraine cannot be ruled out, Shmyhal clarifies that they have not asked for troops from Europe, but for instructors. “It would be more practical than training outside,” he says in an interview given this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Representation to the EU.
Q. Intelligence reports warn that Russia is preparing a new offensive at the end of spring. These days in the EU there is a lot of talk about defense, about the Russian threat, an alarm is perceived. What has changed in the last few months to get to this point?
R. The mentality of many European politicians has changed radically. And the French president [Emmanuel] Macron, rhetorically, has demonstrated this tendency to be very clear and more radical in the sense of European security and the defense capabilities of the European Union. In reality, Ukraine is just one example of how Russia will advance, which, since 2008, began this large-scale hybrid war against European countries. And Ukraine was the first in which this hybrid war delves into the physical and military scale. For European politicians now comes this moment of realizing that Russia is a cruel, barbaric, aggressor and terrorist country, which will not stop in Ukraine; Europe is part of her strategy. The sooner we understand this and take it for granted, the sooner we will prepare to protect Europe from Russian aggression.
Q. The war has been two years old, why is it alert now? Is it due to the situation in Ukraine?
R. This delay with the supply of financial aid and ammunition from the United States has acted as a catalyst for European countries and leaders to realize that this is a crucial moment when Europe should protect itself together with Ukraine. This is a turning point in which it has become clear that we must increase military production, weapons, and work together and invest more in high technologies.
Q. The French president, like the Polish president, have said that they do not rule out sending soldiers to Ukraine. Have you asked for troops? Is it a real possibility to see soldiers from European countries in Ukraine?
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
R. We have not asked for troops. We have our own military and defense forces. And we have enough troops. We are very grateful to the European Union and partners for training tens of thousands of our soldiers in Europe. We propose to our European partners to send instructors to Ukrainian territory, to accelerate this process, since it would facilitate logistics and communication. I am sure that President Macron is referring to this type of cooperation. No European country agrees to send soldiers to the battlefield, because that would mean that they would enter the war and we are all absolutely clear that that is impossible at the moment. But the support of our Western partners is crucial.
Q. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to demand precision Taurus missiles from Germany. The EU has also not fulfilled its commitment to send one million projectiles…
R. We are waiting and asking our partners to send us long- and medium-range missiles. They are crucial, no less important than the supply of artillery shells. We have given guarantees that we will not use these missiles for attacks on Russian territory, but rather to reduce logistics in the occupied Ukrainian territories, to cut off logistical routes, railways, bridges and stop Russia from continuing to supply more and more material and troops to the front. We hope these decisions are made this year because it will be crucial. And a turning point in our fight against Russian aggression. We are very careful with communication, strategy and negotiations, because we have learned the lessons of last year's counteroffensive, when we were very expressive; and that worked against us.
Q. Now that the US elections are approaching and the package of some 50 billion euros is still blocked, are you afraid of losing Washington's support?
Q. We have bipartisan support in Congress, we understand that this is not about Ukraine, but about internal challenges related to, for example, the presidential elections. We are patients. We have communication and cooperation with senators, with congressmen from both parties—Democrats and Republicans—and they conveyed to us very cautious optimism that the decision on the funds will be made in April of this year and that Ukraine will have that support. We mainly have military support of 50,000 million and budget support of 7,500 million for this year. It is less than we expected at the beginning of the year, but it is essential for Ukraine, for all partners and for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Q. It would be a bad sign for allies if the United States does not carry out this support or if it withdraws support if Republican Donald Trump were to win the White House.
R. I don't think the United States will stop supporting Ukraine financially and militarily, because that will mean it will stop playing its global role. For me, that is impossible.
Q. We are already hearing some voices saying that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia to end the war.
R. There are many voices that mention fatigue, or say that there are European leaders or citizens who are exhausted due to this war. But in Ukraine we are not exhausted. We will continue to fight for our lives, homes and families, and liberate our land. There are several factors in all this noise about the negotiation: Russian propaganda, influences. Furthermore, the desire of many people and many politicians to stop this war is playing a crucial role in those voices that say we must negotiate. Ukraine is the first interested in stopping this war, where children, women, young people, Ukrainians are dying every day. But we have a terrible experience when Russia calls for a ceasefire. As in 2014, in the war in Donbas, they ask for a ceasefire and then use our allies, they pressure us to negotiate. But this supposed ceasefire will be used by Russia only to empower its army and get back into action. We did not start this war, we cannot stop it. That is the decision of only one person: Putin. If he decides to stop the war, he will stop attacking Ukraine.
Q. Has any ally asked you to negotiate?
R. No, at this time there are no direct requests to negotiate with the Russians. Ukraine received the special representative sent by China and proposed his vision and the Russian proposal to negotiate. But it doesn't pressure us, they just put it on the table. There is no pressure because all our partners and allies understand that we are fighting for our lives. We promote President Volodymyr Zelensky's peace formula, and we will hold a peace forum in Switzerland in which we hope the participation of a hundred countries and the creation of a global coalition to pressure Russia to stop the war, get out of our sovereign, internationally recognized territories, and thus end this war at the diplomatic table, with guarantees, with documents. Ending it militarily is impossible, simply because Russia is a nuclear country. Ukraine should be a member of the European Union, NATO. This is our strategy, our existential vision and we will follow that path.
Q. The president of the European Commission has warned that the elections to the European Parliament could delay the negotiating framework for Ukraine's accession to the EU. Do you think everything will go as planned?
R. The sooner we start, the sooner we will do our homework. We have completed our self-assessment, implemented the recommendations of the community institutions and are ready to begin negotiations. We hope that this decision will be made, at the latest, in the first half of the year. And we are ready to do our homework, it will not take us more than two years. At that point, although we understand there are many challenges, Ukrainian membership will be a political decision.
Q. Ukraine's future membership has already caused some friction. We have seen this with the farmers' protests, for example, in Poland. Do these demonstrations undermine EU unity on Ukraine?
R. Looking around us we see how Russia is manipulating social networks and the global board, has direct influence on Poland and the European Union and wants to undermine the unity of Ukraine and the EU. We understand the nature of these protests in Poland, that they occur for the same reasons that exist throughout Europe. Russia is using this protest to increase political pressure on the Polish Government, on Ukraine and on European institutions. We should be very careful and very clear and open with our statistics and our communication. It is one of the points why in the process of negotiating our accession to the EU we have agreed to open the agricultural chapters first. It is not usual, but for us it is important to demonstrate to our neighboring countries, such as Poland, clear data, understanding of Ukraine's role in the EU agricultural sector and that there is no detrimental influence.
Q. Mentions Russian actions to undermine unity. In view of the European elections, the EU has warned about this. Do you think they will use Ukraine as a divisive element?
R. We should be aware that everyone, the entire European Union and any Member State, is under the influence of Russian hybrid aggression and propaganda. Russia has used cyber attacks and is trying to attack through disinformation and special psychological and information operations by creating tension points. This is actually a hybrid war against specific European countries and against the EU. We see examples of Russian hybrid attacks in the migration crisis on the border with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. And there is more: cyber attacks, crises and interference. All these methods and activities are actually already a form of war.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#Prime #Minister #Ukraine #troops #European #partners #military #instructors