A “unlimited and timely” supply of weapons to allow Ukraine to beat Russia and prevent the war from spreading across Europe. This is the request of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who launched a urgent appeal to Western allies to supply Kiev with weapons of all types without restrictions. “We are extremely grateful for what you have done for Ukraine. But the strategy of getting aid to Ukraine drop by drop no longer works,” Kuleba said in Vilnius after a meeting with the foreign ministers of France and Baltic republics.
“What is needed is an unlimited and timely supply of all types of weapons and ammunition to ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia and that the war in Europe does not spread. We must accept as a new reality that the era of peace in Europe is over”, he added.
THE Foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania supported Kuleba's claims. “We need to draw red lines for Russia, not for ourselves. To prevent Russia from winning and to finally pave the way for Ukraine's victory, we cannot rule out any form of support,” said Lithuanian guest Gabrielius Landsbergis of the conference.
Also the British Defense Minister Grant Shapps urged Western nations to copy Britain's example by increasing their support for Ukraine. In a video posted on social media, Shapps, visiting Kiev, is seen walking past a destroyed tank in Kiev as he raises a “wake-up call” to the world to ensure that Vladimir Putin is defeated.
“I am in Kiev to raise the alarm to the democratic world“We need to make sure Ukraine wins this war,” Shapps said. The UK has stepped up to do more than ever, with our largest military support package to date. Every nation must now do the same and ensure that freedom triumphs over tyranny“.
The Defense Secretary encouraged Britain's allies to reflect on democratic values, asking: “What would happen if we allowed a democratic country to be taken over by a dictator?” Shapps met President Zelensky in Kiev on Thursday, where he announced theBritain's commitment to buy 10,000 more drones for Ukraineworth £325 million.
Biden: “Give weapons to Kiev, don't back down to Putin”
“I say this to Congress, we must not retreat before Putin, history is literally watching us“. In the State of the Union speech that the American press defined as fiery, Joe Biden returned to urging Republicans to stop blocking the approval of the military aid that Ukraine increasingly desperately needs.
“If the United States withdraws, it will put Ukraine at risk, Europe will be at risk, the free world will be at risk”, warned the American president again who then addressed Vladimir Putin directly: “my message to President Putin, whom I have known for a long time, it is simple: we will not retreat, we will not give in.”
In insisting on the need for Republicans to approve the $60 billion for Kiev, blocked to obey Donald Trump's diktats, Biden has compared the current situation to that of the Second World Warreiterating that “history is watching” Washington's decisions in the face of “the chaos sown” by Putin, warning that the Russian president does not intend to stop at Ukraine.
“Across the pond, Putin is on the march, invading Ukraine and wreaking havoc across Europe and beyond – Biden proposed -, if anyone in this room thinks that Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he won't. However Ukraine can stop Putin if we support it and provide it with the weapons it needs to defend”.
In comparing the current situation with that of the Second World War, Biden was however careful to point out that he is not calling for direct military involvement and promised “that no American soldiers will be sent.” But he recalled the speech in which, in January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt asked to abandon isolationist policies and intervene because “freedom and democracy were under attack in the world”.
European troops in Kiev? “Nothing can be ruled out”
French President Emmanuel “Macron has sent a clear message. Our imperative is to counter the imperialist intentions of the Putin regime, not to wage war on Russia. Vladimir Putin is trying to establish an international order based on force. We must say that we cannot exclude anything, so that he understands that European countries will not abandon Ukraine to its expansionist drive”, he said in an interview with Corriere della Sera the French Minister for Europe, Jean-Noël Barrotstating that we noted “at the Paris Conference last Monday above all the agreement, unity and determination reaffirmed by all 27 heads of state and government present in Paris”.
“With a clear will: to support Ukraine by doing more, better and differently – he adds -. We must do everything to prevent Russia from winning this war. It is the very meaning of the concept of strategic ambiguity. Strategic ambiguity means that we do not reveal to our adversary what we will do, but what we are ready to do. As Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné underlined, we have indeed put options on the table, such as training and demining.”
“We aim to reach an agreement on the adaptation of the European Peace Facility as soon as possible, so that we can make joint purchases and continue to supply the weapons Ukraine needs. This is the urgency – goes on -. More generally, we want to advance on a long-term European defense strategy, based on the proposals presented by the European Commission.”
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