By BRUSSELS. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, at the first meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council at the level of heads of foreign affairs departments of the alliance member countries, intends to raise the issue of creating a common Euro-Atlantic space for the defense industry.
He told reporters about this on Wednesday in Brussels before the start of a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council.
“I have come to thank our allies for their continued support for Ukraine and to convey a message about the importance of significantly increasing the production of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment. We need to create a Euro-Atlantic common defense industry space. This is the only way to not only continue to help Ukraine at a sufficient level, but also to ensuring the security and defense capability of the NATO countries themselves,” the minister said.
The second message for the allies, according to Kuleba, is that “we must continue to fight; Ukraine is not going to retreat, our strategic goal – territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders since 1991 – remains unchanged, and nothing will stop us.” “The problem here is not only the security of Ukraine, but also the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic space,” the foreign minister said.
Asked if he thought Ukraine was getting enough support while Hungary was blocking EUR 50 billion in aid, Slovakia had withdrawn support and there was a lot of uncertainty from the United States, Kuleba said: “We cross bridges when we come to them. So, essentially, when a real problem arises, we solve it. But politics is politics. People say different things. Yesterday I had a productive meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, and I can tell you that we understand each other perfectly, he reiterated that the technical service center for Ukrainian heavy equipment will continue to operate in Slovakia, contracts between Ukrainian and Slovak companies for Weapons production will continue, so I don’t see any risk in that.”
Regarding Hungary, the Ukrainian minister recommended “waiting two weeks and seeing how it ends” [meaning the EU summit, which will be held in Brussels on December 14-15]. He also expressed hope that the U.S. Congress will find a solution that “will be in the best interests of the American people.” “The best way to avoid sending your soldiers to war is to help another country fight. I would like to emphasize again that Ukraine has never asked for an ‘American boot on the ground’ [meaning the presence of the American army on Ukrainian territory], and this is a fundamental question, this is what distinguishes us from others. Our deal is very fair – you give us everything we need, we fight, we do not ask you to sacrifice your lives,” Kuleba said.
He also answered negatively to a question about the “deadlock situation” on the frontline. “There is no deadlock,” the minister said.
Commenting on the possibility of peace in exchange for territory and NATO membership, Kuleba said: “These people should advise this to their own governments – to surrender their territories, their people. And if they do this, then I am ready to listen to their arguments, but for some reason they always It’s easy to tell someone else to give in and make concessions. They have to do it themselves first.”
