Kuleba calls on EU to speed up supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine

This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

"Russia's defeat is a guarantee of normal life for Europe. There is no more important task today. To achieve it, Ukraine needs more weapons and ammunition, and all this should be delivered as soon as possible," the minister emphasized.

According to Kuleba, the side that has the best logistics and supplies has the best chance of winning the war. He called on his European colleagues to speed up supplies and ensure Ukraine's decisive advantage over Russia on the battlefield.

"We have a common strategic goal: to ensure peace in Europe for future generations. This goal now depends on the speed of your decisions and their implementation. Let's remove all paper walls. Let's overcome all procedural obstacles. Let's speed up every process. Let's eliminate any delays between the decision to provide weapons and their arrival at the border of Ukraine," he urged.

In particular, the Minister also listed short-term, medium-term and long-term military needs. He called for providing Ukraine with more armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery systems, long-range artillery and ammunition as soon as possible, strengthening Ukraine's air and missile defence and integrating it with neighbouring EU countries, as well as immediately starting training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and making it possible to provide Ukraine with Western-made combat aircraft.

In the medium term, Kuleba called on his European colleagues to increase the capacity of logistics and repair hubs, continue and expand training programs for the Ukrainian military, and cover the needs for ammunition by increasing production.

In the long-term perspective of several years, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on EU foreign ministers to focus on developing a common defence policy that would include Ukraine as an integral part.

"Today marks exactly 14 months since the beginning of the largest political and security "earthquake" in our lives and in the modern history of Europe. No one expected either the scale of the aggression, or that Ukraine would withstand the blow, or that the EU would demonstrate such unity and strength. We have to prove Putin wrong, thinking that he can wait out our strength, that we will strike first, that our resolve will falter before his aggression does. No, we will not retreat or get tired. We will not falter. He will falter," he summarised.

• As a reminder, on April 13, the EU Council approved the allocation of 1 billion euros from the European Peace Fund to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the provision of ammunition.  
• On April 24, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tahkna said that the EU would be able to fulfil the plan to supply 1 million units of ammunition to Ukraine in 2023.