Foreign Minister Dmitry Kouleba called for swift action at a meeting of senior officials from across the Western alliance, proposing what he said was a threefold agenda: “weapons, weapons, weapons.” “The more weapons we get and the faster they reach Ukraine, the more lives will be saved,” Kuleba said before the meeting. “As many cities and villages as possible will not be destroyed. “And there will be no more Bukha,” he said, referring to the Kiev suburb where the withdrawal of Russian troops revealed scenes of horrific human suffering, including the bodies of civilians who appeared to have been tortured and executed in summary proceedings. “I urge all allies to put aside their hesitations, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” he said. “Because, strange as it may sound, today weapons serve the purpose of peace.” He said forces loyal to Kyiv – struggling to gain the upper hand against a larger, better-equipped Russian force – would require aircraft, armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles and additional air defense systems. NATO nations have provided a growing range of weapons since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, including anti-aircraft missiles, tanks and kamikaze drones. But members of the alliance, nervous that Russia could launch a retaliatory attack on NATO territory, did not stop sending fighter jets or creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine.. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters after the meetings, said the alliance countries were “determined to do more, now and in the medium and long term”. Kuleba told reporters after the meetings that he was confident that additional weapons would eventually be provided, but said he was concerned that they would not be shipped quickly enough. He said he had given NATO ministers a specific request with a specific timetable. Faced with fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, Russia withdrew its troops from areas around Kyiv and turned them into southern and eastern Ukraine. Kuleba said the impending Russian attack, centered on Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, could look like World War II: large-scale military maneuvers involving thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aircraft. “That’s why it’s so urgent for the allies not to – to put it mildly – not to tell us that they still believe they have to do all the procedures that are left to be resolved before making decisions,” he said. “Either you help us now – and I’m talking about days, not weeks – or your help will come too late. “And many people will die, many civilians will lose their homes, many villages will be destroyed precisely because this help came too late.” Kuleba’s brutal appeal to Brussels echoes the approach taken by other Ukrainian leaders, notably President Volodymyr Zelensky, as they try to rally the world against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack: direct and vocal criticism of anything more than and identifying nations that fail to meet this signal. Earlier in the day, Kuleba cited Germany as an example of nations that have avoided offering as much military support as they could. “While Berlin has time, Kyiv does not,” he said. “I think the agreement offered by Ukraine is fair. You give us weapons. “We are sacrificing our lives and the war is limited to Ukraine.” “This is. British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras said NATO allies had agreed to step up support by providing “new and heavier equipment” to Ukraine. “We agreed to help Ukraine move from Soviet-era equipment to NATO-standard equipment on a bilateral basis,” he said, without elaborating on what could be sent or when. Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former U.S. Army commander in Europe, said Allied support was critical as the war entered a “decisive new phase.” Ukrainian forces are running out of ammunition, he said. As allies become more willing to send in weapons, what has been sent so far “is not enough,” he said. “The government and NATO must talk about victory, about helping Ukraine win, not just about avoiding defeat or preventing Russia from winning,” he said. Victory, according to Hodges, would mean a return to pre-Feb. 24 lines and renders Russia incapable of continuing its attack. “We have to see a sense of urgency,” he said, “something like Berlin air transport.” Divisions between Western nations over how far they should go with military aid to Ukraine are also visible in the economic sphere, as some countries are calling for more drastic measures to deprive Russia of energy revenue, while others are refusing to take steps. could increase the weight felt by European Consumers. The European Union this week proposed a ban on Russian coal imports, but the bloc has not yet stopped Russian oil and gas markets that continue to provide Moscow with a valuable cash flow. Ukraine has condemned the move, calling for all Russian banks to be cut off from the global financial system, in addition to a series of global sanctions already in place. The Biden government announced on Wednesday new measures targeting Putin’s adult children and additional Russian banks. Images of mass graves and corpses of citizens on the streets of Bukha, Ukraine, have sparked international outrage. Even before these atrocities were exposed, the Biden government announced last month an official assessment that Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine. “I hope we will never again face a situation where we increase the pressure of sanctions, we need atrocities like Bucha to reveal and impress and shock other partners as they sit down and say ‘Okay, okay’ and impose new sanctions “, said Kuleba. In a further indication of global anger over Russia’s actions, the NATO meeting was attended by ministers from non-NATO countries Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Georgia, Finland and Sweden. Following talks on the sidelines of the NATO summit, ministers from the Group of Seven bloc called for Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council. The UN General Assembly subsequently voted in favor of the suspension. Kuleba also had private talks at NATO headquarters with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. In statements posted Wednesday to the State Department’s Telegram channel as part of an effort to reach out to the Russian public, Blinken said weapons provided by Western nations had helped thwart Russia’s attempt to occupy Kyiv. The Biden government has announced arms shipments to Ukraine, including, most recently, $ 100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles. “What we are focusing on is to ensure that we have in Ukraine the systems that they can use now and use effectively,” Blinken said. “At the same time, we are looking at other systems – some of them larger, more sophisticated – that may be useful and important in the future, but where, for example, Ukrainians need to be trained, because some of these systems, you can not just turn them over and use them immediately. “ Speaking to reporters, Kuleba said the nations that cited the need for long-term training had unnecessarily slowed down arms supplies because if they had signed such systems at the start of the war, they would already be in Ukrainian hands. Asked about a video circulating that appeared to show Ukrainian troops executing a Russian soldier, Kuleba said Ukrainian forces were obeying the laws of war and that the incident would be investigated. He seemed to become emotional as he described how Ukrainians responded to the abuses that took place during the war. “You do not understand how it feels to see photos of Bucha talking to people who escaped, knowing that the person you know was raped for four days in a row. “You do not understand how you feel about Russian soldiers raping children,” he said. “This is not an excuse for those who violate the rules of war on both sides of the front line. But there are some things you just can not understand. Sorry.”
