Kuleba calls on Germany to provide Ukraine with more weapons
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on Germany to provide Ukraine with more weapons and stressed that Germany must make more decisions in order to stop Russia's aggression.
"Ukraine needs help. Give us more weapons so we can defend ourselves. Help us protect our skies, help us provide us with combat aircraft, provide us with more serious anti-tank, anti-aircraft, anti-missile weapons. Impose even tougher sanctions against Russia, including the abandonment of Russian energy carriers, disconnecting Sberbank from SWIFT, freezing correspondent accounts of Russian banks and companies, banning Russian ships from entering European ports," Kuleba wrote in an article for Die Wellt on Wednesday.
The minister noted that Ukraine needs constant public pressure on Russia from partners, including the demand to stop war crimes and allow humanitarian corridors to save the civilian population.
"We are grateful for the decisions already taken during these two weeks. We see that Germany has changed its approach. Germany has taken a number of difficult steps, although tragically belated. But Putin does not stop. Innocent Ukrainian men, women and children continue to die. There should be more solutions. But most importantly, they must be proactive, they must be immediate. Finally hear Ukraine and act before we die and Putin goes further! We must stop this barbarian now before he destroys all of Europe. I, the foreign minister of a state fighting for its right to exist, cannot hear calmly that Germany needs more time to decide on the transfer of weapons, is skeptical about the admission of Ukraine to the European Union, is reserved about the admission of new powerful, rather than nominal sanctions against Russia," Kuleba said.
The minister noted that Ukraine warned Germany.
"We asked for weapons, and in response we heard stories about 'historical responsibility' that for some reason extended to Russians, but not to Ukrainians. We asked not to build Nord Stream 2. But you said that this was a purely commercial project. We warned that Putin is an evil on a scale the world has not seen in eighty years. We asked not to repeat the mistakes of the past and stop it before the catastrophe. You did not believe us and insisted on the importance of dialogue with Putin. You thought he can lie to us, Ukrainians, but for you, Germans, no. And then you yourself realized your mistakes. Now you are giving us weapons, you have destroyed the Russian gas pipeline and supported the first serious sanctions. Why couldn't it have been done right away when you were asked to? Was it really necessary to wait until Ukrainian children die of dehydration and terrible air bombs?" Kuleba pointed out.
