Over the past two years, fear of escalation from Russia was a key factor that constantly prevented obtaining the necessary weapons and making important political decisions in support of Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

During an online appearance at The Economist panel discussion "Overcoming Conflict: Finding Opportunity" in Athens, Greece, the minister pointed out that in these two and a half years, nothing has harmed our common cause more than the fear of escalation.

The Foreign Minister emphasized that in the end all decisions were made, and none of them led to escalation on the Russian side. He recalled that, firstly, Russia itself is constantly escalating the situation and does this regardless of any decisions, and secondly, its escalation pockets are already empty.

"My request today is to believe in Ukraine's ability to win and finally give up the fear of escalation. It is Putin who should be afraid of us. He should be the one trying to predict our steps. It is he who must be careful and look for ways to stop his aggression. And not the other way around," Kuleba urged.

In this context, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister named three decisions, the adoption of which will help Ukraine and its allies to radically improve the situation on the battlefield.

"First, providing Ukraine with more Patriot and other air defense systems and related missiles in order to throw Russia out of Ukrainian skies. Second, providing Ukraine with the opportunity to destroy Russian means of aerial terror, its bombers, even before they approach the Ukrainian borders - at airfields in Russia and in its skies. And third, sufficient and stable supplies of artillery ammunition to give the Ukrainian ground forces an advantage," the minister noted.