The head of Ukrainian diplomacy did not make the trip to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), but the 15th edition of the World Political Conference, which is held there from December 9 to 11, dedicated a session to him on Saturday afternoon plenary in charge of videoconference from home.
Dmytro Kuleba, dressed in a thick gray sweater at his desk, aims to leave his audience in no doubt: “Russia is losing when Ukraine is winning. And he dismisses any prospect of harsh winter conditions that could affect the Ukrainian troops: “Winter, spring, summer, we will continue to fight (…). We don’t care about the weather and nothing will stop our brave soldiers. »
Replacement parts
Of the short-term “solidarity” meeting for his country that will take place in Paris on Tuesday, he only expresses a central expectation on the part of Kiev, the “coordination of efforts” in the supply of transformers, generators and spare parts, essential to overcome the destruction or damage to “more than half” of the country’s electrical infrastructure, due to the intensity of Russian bombing.
A French diplomatic source goes in this direction, explaining that the intention is to focus on a period from mid-December to mid-March, with a “very specific issue” which is allowing Ukraine to keep its critical infrastructure running.
An advisor to the EU executive present at the Abu Dhabi event said, in this regard, that “the level of consensus in Europe is extraordinarily high.” He insists on the financial commitment of the European Union, both for economic and military purposes, which would be “superior” to that of the United States and, nevertheless, “seriously underestimated”. A few hours later, the EU Council of Ministers announced that it had reached a new aid agreement throughout 2023 worth 18,000 million euros, with loans with a 10-year grace period.
“Stuck”
The formulation of a distant horizon is not only of a technical nature. In a round table aimed at looking at the future of European security after this war, the former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Védrine, warned that the most probable remains, above all, “stagnation”.
Listening here to various interventions by European representatives, it is no longer within the 27 that one must seek the will to discuss with Russia. The chairman of the Polish Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Bodgan Klich, thus accused Moscow of carrying out an “extermination” of the Ukrainian people, a policy of “genocide”. And when in the room, a speaker asks him to renounce that qualification, this former defense minister refuses, determined to have the last word.
Source: BFM TV
