16:23 30.09.2022

I do not see single European govt that can refuse to support Ukraine – Kuleba

3 min read
I do not see single European govt that can refuse to support Ukraine – Kuleba

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba does not see a single European government that can refuse to support Ukraine.

"I don't see a single government in Europe that could afford to refuse to support decisions related to Ukraine and completely ignore it," Kuleba said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The minister expressed confidence that no one would definitely lift the existing sanctions against Russia.

"What is support for Ukraine? These are very different forms. Sanctions. Nobody will definitely lift the existing sanctions, there will be no consensus in the EU on this. You can be absolutely calm here. It will be more and more difficult to apply serious new sanctions. Yes, we already see it, it is already happening. Weapons. The theoretical situation: if one government is now supplying us with tanks and shells, and a new one comes and says that for political reasons it can no longer supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, then we will receive non-lethal weapons from them. And then we will return to the lethal one," he said.

According to him, there are three factors to support Ukraine.

"The first factor is the logic of EU consensus decisions. If you try to 'twist off' somewhere, they will sit down with you, talk, explain, offer some solution, and as a result, you will be forced into a common frame," he explained.

Kuleba pointed out that the second factor is the position of Ukraine.

"It must be admitted that Ukraine now has the highest moral and political authority in Europe, as a state. This is a reality. Maybe someone does not want to recognize it, because it is inconvenient, but this is a fact. With its position, Ukraine is able to change the position of other states, even if they do not like it, they say: 'We are tired of you, you constantly criticize us, you constantly create problems for us,'" he said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister pointed out that there is also a third factor, which also should not be discarded.

"Even in the most skeptical country in Europe, there is a clear understanding that Putin is a threat to entire Europe. It's just that not everyone allows themselves to openly implement this understanding in politics, even, relatively speaking, Prime Minister Orban, but they all understand what modern Russia is, and understand that Europe is finished if it loses now. The end is not in terms of falling apart, but the end is that it will be forced to obey the will of Russia on certain issues of its development. But no one categorically wants to allow this," he said.

Kuleba stressed that for the EU to allow Russia to win in Ukraine is to lose itself, because then Russia will begin to dictate completely - from energy and cyber threats to creating a threat directly on the EU border, a military presence.

"The entire military colossus that is now creating problems for us and that we are destroying, it will then start creating problems everywhere in the same way. Drone flights and violation of airspace by aircraft will be just 'fluff' compared to what may come. Therefore, no matter what the most allegedly pro-Russian politicians say, none of them wants to lie under Putin," he said.

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