Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday called on NATO members to supply his country with more weapons as quickly as possible to combat and defeat Russian forces.
“I come to ask for three things: weapons, weapons and weapons. The faster they are delivered, the more lives will be saved and destruction avoided,” he said upon arriving at NATO headquarters in Brussels for a meeting with foreign ministers of the member countries of this organization.
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“Ukraine has the right to defend itself. We are going to listen to the needs that Dmytro Kuleba will present to us and talk about how to respond,” said the secretary general of the Transatlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
The Ukrainian minister assured that they needed “planes, armored vehicles and anti-aircraft defense.”
“We know how to fight. We know how to win, but without a sustainable and sufficient supply of all the weapons requested by Ukraine, this victory will impose huge sacrifices,” he explained.
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“I call on all allies to put aside their hesitation, their reluctance to supply Ukraine with everything it needs,” he insisted.
“It is clear that Germany can do more, given its reserves. We are working with the German government to provide us with additional weapons,” he added.
We know how to win, but without sufficient supply, this victory will require huge sacrifices.
Questioned directly by Kuleba, German Minister Annalena Baerbock assured that her country supports “Ukraine to help it in its defense capacity, but it is important for us to coordinate, act together and not individually.”
This Thursday there will also be a meeting of the ministers of the member countries of the G7 with the participation of the Japanese minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at the NATO headquarters before the plenary meeting of the Alliance.
“The goal of today’s G7 meeting is to ensure that we keep up the pressure on Russia,” said Canadian minister Mélanie Joly.
“We also want to ensure that there are no cracks in Western countries, that we are coordinated,” he added.
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The European Union (EU) is studying new sanctions that will affect the energy sector for the first time, with an embargo on Russian coal purchases and the closure of European ports to ships from Moscow.
“The agreement will be finalized by the ambassadors of the EU countries and will be approved by the foreign ministers on Monday in Luxembourg,” announced the head of European diplomacy, the Spaniard Josep Borrell upon his arrival at NATO headquarters. .
“Oil is not in this new sanctions package, but the issue will be discussed on Monday in Luxembourg and sooner or later there will be a decision,” he said.
“An embargo on Russian oil and gas must be imposed and I hope that it will not take new atrocities for these sanctions to be decided,” Kuleba said.
‘Not enough’: Zelensky on new sanctions
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky accused Russia on Thursday of “taking the dead out of the streets and basements of the occupied territory” to hide evidence “of war crimes” that his army commits in Ukraine.
In his message this morning, Zelensky said he had “information that the Russian army has changed its tactics and is trying to remove the dead from the streets and cellars of the occupied territory. Ukrainians killed. This is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more”.
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But “responsibility cannot be evaded. We already know of thousands of missing people. We already know of thousands of people who could be deported to Russia or killed,” said Zelensky, who vowed to “uncover the circumstances of most of our missing citizens.” .
The Ukrainian president believes that, from what was seen in Bucha, “it seems that the attitude towards the modern Russian state is finally changing in the world” and that now the attitude towards Russia is simple: “Either you support the search for peace or support unjustified massacres.”
He also called on Russian citizens to stand up to “the Russian repressive machinery” because that will always be better than “being equated with the Nazis for the rest of your life.”
After a day in which the Western allies decided to increase their sanctions against Russia and its interests in the world, the Ukrainian president said that, although “spectacular”, these sanctions “are not enough” and that they will continue to insist on a complete blockade of the Russian banking system and the rejection of oil from that country.
AFP and EFE
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