BRUSSELS — Ukraine’s top diplomat on Thursday made a stark appeal for NATO to speed up arms supplies to Ukraine’s armed forces — weapons he said are badly needed before Russia launches an expected offensive in the east of the country.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for swift action at a meeting of senior officials from across the western alliance, where he presented what he believed to be a three-pronged agenda: “arms, arms, arms.”
“The more weapons we get and the sooner they get to Ukraine, the more lives will be saved,” Kuleba said before the meeting. “All the more towns and villages are not destroyed. And there will be no more Buchas,” he said, referring to the Kiev suburb where the withdrawal of Russian troops revealed scenes of appalling human suffering, including the bodies of civilians who appeared to have been tortured and summarily executed.
“I urge all allies to put aside their hesitancy, their reluctance to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” Kuleba continued. “Because, strange as it may sound, guns are for peace today.”
He said forces loyal to Kyiv – struggling to gain the upper hand against a larger, better-armed Russian force – need aircraft, armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles and additional air defense systems. NATO countries have deployed a growing arsenal of weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, tanks and kamikaze drones, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. But Allies, fearful that Russia could launch a retaliatory attack on NATO territory, have stopped sending fighter jets or imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after the meetings that Allies were “determined to do more now and in the medium and long term.”
Kuleba told reporters after the meetings he was confident additional types of weapons would eventually be made available, but said he was concerned they would not be sent quickly enough. He said he had put a specific request to NATO ministers with a specific timeline.
Facing stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, Russia has withdrawn troops from positions around Kyiv and directed them toward southern and eastern Ukraine. Kuleba said the expected Russian offensive, centered on Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, could resemble 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 tell us – to put it mildly – that they still think they have to go through all the procedures, that there are remaining issues that need to be sorted out before they make any 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 blunt appeal in Brussels echoed the approach taken by other Ukrainian leaders, notably President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to rally the world against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught: direct and vocal criticism of anything less than full support of Ukraine is, and identifying nations that fail to hit that mark.
Earlier in the day, Kuleba cited Germany as an example of nations that have held back from providing as much military support as they could. “While Berlin has time, Kyiv has none,” he said.
“I think the deal that Ukraine is offering is fair. You give us weapons; we are sacrificing our lives and the war is contained in Ukraine,” he said. “That’s it.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said NATO allies had agreed to step up support by providing Ukraine with “new and heavier equipment”. “We have agreed to help Ukraine transition from its Soviet-era equipment to NATO standard equipment on a bilateral basis,” she said, without giving details of what could be shipped and when.
Retired US Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of US Army Europe, said allied support is crucial as the war enters a “crucial new phase”.
The Ukrainian armed forces are running out of ammunition, he said. While allies are becoming more willing to send weapons, what has been sent so far is “not enough,” he said.
“The government and NATO must talk about winning, about helping Ukraine win, and not just avoiding defeat or preventing Russia from winning,” he said.
According to Hodges, a win would mean a return to the pre-February era. 24 lines and renders Russia unable to resume its offensive.
“We need to see a sense of urgency,” he said, “something like the Berlin Airlift.”
Disagreements among Western nations over how far military aid to Ukraine should go are also visible in the economic arena, as some countries are calling for more drastic measures to deprive Russia of energy revenues, while others balk at moves that would put the strain on Europeans could increase consumers.
The European Union this week proposed a ban on Russian coal imports, but the bloc has yet to halt purchases of Russian oil and natural gas, which continue to provide Moscow with a valuable cash flow. Ukraine has condemned this position, demanding that all Russian banks be cut off from the global financial system, in addition to a number of global sanctions already imposed.
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new measures targeting Putin’s adult children and other Russian banks.
Images of mass graves and civilian bodies lying in the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, have sparked international outrage. Even before these atrocities were uncovered, the Biden administration last month announced a formal assessment that Russian forces were committing war crimes in Ukraine.
“I hope we never get into a situation again where we have to ramp up sanctions pressure, expose atrocities like Bucha and impress and shock other partners enough to sit down and say, ‘Okay, fine, we’re going to introduce new sanctions ‘” Kuleba said.
In another sign of global anger at Russia’s actions, the NATO meeting was attended by non-NATO ministers from Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Georgia, Finland and Sweden. After talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, ministers of the Group of Seven bloc called for Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council. The UN General Assembly then voted in favor of this suspension.
Kuleba also held one-on-one meetings at NATO Headquarters with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In comments posted Wednesday on the State Department’s Telegram channel as part of an attempt to reach a Russian audience, Blinken said arms provided by Western nations were instrumental in fueling Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv. to block.
The Biden administration has announced arms deliveries to Ukraine, most recently including $100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles.
“We are focused on making sure we bring the systems to Ukraine that they are using now and can use effectively,” Blinken said. “At the same time, we’re looking at other systems – some of them bigger, more sophisticated – that may be useful and important for the future, but where, for example, Ukrainians need training because some of these systems you can’t just flip them over and use them right away.” “
Speaking to reporters, Kuleba said nations citing the need for lengthy training unnecessarily slowed down the supply of weapons because if they signed such schemes early in the war, they would already be in Ukrainian hands.
Asked about a circulating video that appeared to show Ukrainian troops executing a Russian serviceman, Kuleba said Ukrainian forces respect the laws of war and that the incident is being investigated.
He seemed emotional as he described how Ukrainians respond to wartime abuse.
“You don’t understand how it feels to see pictures of Bucha, how to talk to people who have fled and know that the person you know has been raped four days in a row. … They don’t understand how it feels when Russian soldiers rape children,” he said. “This is no excuse for those who break the rules of war on either side of the frontline. But there are things you just can’t understand; I am sorry.”