Russia must understand that the West will not allow it to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine and its democracy, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"Strategically, Russia has to understand that Ukraine belongs to the world of democracies, to the Western world, and the West will not allow Russia to shatter Ukrainian democracy and sovereignty. This is the message, the very clear and very simple message, that our friends and partners can convey to Russia. Ukraine is not part of the Russian world and will never be considered as such," he said at a joint briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Tuesday.

The minister said that at the operational level, Ukraine needs measures, which will deter Russia, and which will contain its aggressive intentions.

"This could be, as Secretary General mentioned, a new round of sanctions, which would raise the price of Russian aggression. This could be a direct support, aimed at strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities, because we do know that Russia spares no effort to prevent third countries from cooperating with Ukraine, in the defense sector," Kuleba said.

He said that Russia is working hard to undermine Ukraine's defense capabilities.

"There is only one thing that I really would like to highlight here. The price, some measures, which we are talking about, may look costly, but the price of prevention, will still be lower than the price of stopping the war and mitigating its consequences. So it's better to act now to prevent Russia from further escalating the situation," the minister said.