Foreign ambassadors in Ukraine "enjoy the luxury that Ukrainian ambassadors in their countries are deprived of," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"I am the minister who least of all meets the G7 ambassadors in Ukraine, although they are my immediate team. I believe that in general foreign ambassadors in Ukraine enjoy the luxury that Ukrainian ambassadors in their countries are deprived of. And this is also what is needed to be changed. This is our internal problem, because we have created it for ourselves," Kuleba said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The minister explained that sometimes Ukrainian ambassadors cannot get to their counterparts, ministers in other countries of the world, because there are 33 levels which they are forced to deal with before.

"Let's finally start to respect ourselves. This in no way affects my personal attitude towards foreign ambassadors here, they are all wonderful people, and the G7 ambassadors are very good with us now. I am grateful to them that they really want to help Ukraine. But some basic rules of mutual respect should exist in relations," the minister stressed.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that the rejection of partnership dependence does not provide for the rejection of partners.

"We must be grateful to them for their support, we must respect them, but we must stop constantly playing the second number in relation to partners," Kuleba said.

At the same time, the minister expressed the opinion that partnership dependence is a style of Ukrainian diplomacy that has been developed over many years.

"It's not the only style, we have shown character in the past on a number of occasions, but in general there was such a style. I just grew up in it, I feel very well what it is about. It's a very simple situation, which can be described as follows: 'Let's do something? Let the partners do it first, and we will join' or 'Let's tell the partners that we are unhappy with this? No. Why annoy partners?' That's about the getting rid of such a mentality I am speaking about when I say that we must get rid of partner dependence," he explained.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Ukraine is not afraid to be the first and is not afraid to tell its partners the truth.

"We are not afraid to be the first, we are not afraid to make decisions proactively, having analyzed the context. And we are not afraid to tell our partners the truth. Because if you do not follow such rules, then your status of international relations is slowly degrading, and you can be proud a hundred times that you have no conflicts with partners or exchanges of any harshness in your news feeds, but degradation will take place in the realm of real politics, your relationship status," Kuleba said.

The minister stressed that he wants Ukraine to be respected, treated as an equal, so that Ukraine will be admired, because it is not afraid to be the first.

"The fact that they are now imposing a label on me that I want to quarrel with everyone is just an element of the internal political struggle. But I want only one thing - that Ukraine should be respected, treated as an equal, that Ukraine should be admired, because it is not afraid to be the first," he added.

At the same time, when asked whether partners are dissatisfied, when Ukraine is now constantly talking about NATO membership, Kuleba pointed out that "partners also sometimes tell us something that makes us unhappy, but they continue telling it."

"The conversation between President Biden and President Zelensky in this regard was very sincere, because President Zelensky said some things very directly, and President Biden spoke very directly in response. I am very pleased that this conversation took place just like that, without patting on the shoulder and diplomatic curtsies. We need to learn to speak as equals. This is something that the media, experts do not notice. If you do not conduct an equal conversation, your status begins to degrade. This is not immediately visible, you are not directly humiliated, but your status begins to degrade, starting from the level at which the ambassador is received, to large political initiatives," he explained.

The Minister stressed that Ukraine values partnership very much, and knows that partners value Ukraine very much, but it is necessary to learn to act first.

"For example, we had made the decision to close air traffic with Belarus before the EU adopted it. You see something, then you act, and move forward. This is a different culture of international affairs," he said.